By Ben Musanje
The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) says about 25 per cent of Uganda’s population remains outside the national identification system, raising concerns about the country’s progress towards achieving universal legal identity.
Claire Ollama, NIRA Registrar General said Uganda has so far covered about 75 per cent of the population, leaving millions of people without national identification as the country works towards meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.9 target of providing legal identity for all, including birth registration, by 2030.
The Registrar made the remarks on Monday during a press conference at Police Headquarters in Naguru, ahead of the NIRA National Symposium and Expo at Kololo Independence Grounds.
She said the expo, running from September 29 to October 1, will bring together government agencies, financial institutions and private-sector players to address gaps in Uganda’s identity ecosystem and find ways of reaching people who remain unidentified.
“As things stand now, Uganda has covered about 75% of the population only, and so there are 25% more Ugandans that are not identified,” she said.
Ollama said the remaining gap presents a challenge to Uganda’s efforts to achieve SDG 16.9, which calls for legal identity for all by 2030.
“We want to come together and bring the whole ecosystem together and make an attempt to have conversations on what have we achieved, what is still pending in identifying every citizen, and what do we need to do very differently,” she said.
Three-day ID processing
As part of efforts to improve access to identification services, NIRA will offer several services at the Kololo expo, including registration of births and deaths, marriage registration and changes to personal particulars.
The authority says eligible applicants seeking changes to their particulars will be able to complete the process and receive their national identity cards within three days, provided they meet all legal requirements.
Ollama cautioned the public against claims circulating on social media that NIRA had waived requirements for changing personal particulars.
“We will not waive the requirements of the deed poll. We will not waive the requirements of the statutory declarations,” she said.
Instead, she said NIRA will provide an end-to-end service at the expo, with its legal department, investigators, registrars and data-processing teams available to handle applications.
The arrangement is intended to eliminate the need for middlemen and allow applicants to interact directly with NIRA officials.
Focus on hard-to-identify communities
The expo will also address citizenship questions affecting communities whose populations extend across Uganda’s borders.
The Registrar cited communities including the Pokot, Alur and Kakwa, where determining Ugandan citizenship can be complicated by cross-border family and community ties.
She said discussions during the expo will examine how citizenship can be established for members of such communities and address cases where Ugandans have been denied identification because their nationality has been questioned.
Leaders from some of the affected communities are expected to participate in the discussions.
Identity linked to public services
NIRA said the expo will also demonstrate how national identification is increasingly linked to access to government and private-sector services.
The Uganda Revenue Authority will provide information on the relationship between the NIN and TIN, while banks will be available to explain account-opening and identity-verification requirements.
The event will also feature mass vaccination, blood donation and information on accessing programmes such as the Parish Development Model.
NIRA will further host a kimeeza, or public dialogue, where citizens can directly raise complaints and concerns with the authority’s management.
Ollama also announced that NIRA’s self-service platform, accessed through *216#, is operational, allowing citizens to check their information.
The expo will take place at Kololo Independence Grounds from September 29 to October 1. Entry will be free, according to NIRA. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
