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By Guest Writer
Major cases of extortion are perilously affecting the registration and issuance of national identity cards to the mandatory citizens in Teso sub-region.
These cases are currently being perpetuated by the registration assistants who are on temporary employment.
The Soroti National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) office which was established in 2014, has about 10 registration assistants, all temporary staff and two permanent staff.
Sources say, the registration assistants being locals don’t listen to their supervisors because the supervisors speak different languages. And most often, the supervisors are busy and do not regularly interact with locals where they could possibly sensitize them that every service at NIRA is cost free.
Clients have named two notorious registration assistants from the NIRA as EO and AO over allegations of extorting money from residents during Uganda’s mass national ID registration drive. An attempt to speak to the accused persons was futile as they are not allowed to talk to the media.
NIRA in 2025, launched a mass national ID registration drive which is still ongoing. At the NIRA office, the following are the necessary documents that citizens get; birth certificates, death certificates, confirmation letters and IDs.
However, the registration assistants who sit at the front desk have taken it as an advantage to solicit money from locals in what is called ‘express’ charges.
Other areas where they extort money are on express card searches, express registration where a client is made to bypass others after paying a fee. “The fees vary according to the person,” said a secondary school student. “Everything activity there has been code-named ‘express’” she added.
Talking to one of the officials, they said: These temporal employees (registration assistants) have persistently ignored warnings from both their supervisors and local authorities and have since then continued to extort money from citizens seeking free government-issued identification.
In 2009, the government of Uganda launched the issuance of national identifications to its citizens in an event organised at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds with President Yoweri Museveni being the first Ugandan to receive his ID card on 21 May 2011 under the project formally called the National Security Information System (NSIS).
The registration of Ugandans and issuance of ID cards to citizens kicked-off officially where all Ugandans aged 16 years and above are supposed to get national IDs.
National ID cards are important as they help to thwart fake identity cards that many citizens carry which are so common in the markets. They also help in standardizing the approach of identifying true Ugandan citizens from non-Ugandans. This has worked in many other countries such as South Africa, where non-citizens are easily identified.
On the other hand, national ID cards, particularly for the case of the East African Community integration process, member states are required to register their citizens and give them IDs to enable free and easy movement of persons.
Despite being free, many registration assistants countrywide have taken advantage to extort money from locals in their respective stations. “They ask for money which looks insignificant but to a common person it’s hard to get that money,” said one client.
He adds that, “People have been paying from Shs10,000 to Shs50,000 depending on one’s status and appearance.”
But it has affected many young people from getting IDs as they are being tossed left and right because they do not have the money. And it has affected service delivery.
For example, students when registering for the Uganda National Examination Board, are asked to present their IDs and it has become cumbersome for them to enroll because they do not have the NIN.
On August 5, 2025, while presenting a statement on: the alleged extortion in the National ID registration and renewal process to Parliament, the state minister for Internal Affairs, General David Muhoozi revealed that about 11 suspects were arrested.
He said the categories of people arrested included the temporary registration assistants, four staff members of the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), and brokers who impersonated NIRA officials to extort money from the public.
The minister added that, “Over nine million people had benefited from the exercise in four months.” (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
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