Kikuube district residents have raised concerns over the growing trend in extortion by the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) officials during the issuance of Identity Cards to their respective holders.
The concerned residents who are from Kyangwali and Katikara parishes in Kyangwali sub-county say the illegal act, which is punctuated with extortion, is portrayed by a team of NIRA officials who are deployed to offer free services.
According to them, the officials are using their offices to extort from them with charges between shs5,000 and shs30,000 before issuing ID cards to them.
Some of them have totally failed to pick up their cards due to a lack of money to pay for free services.
Speaking to tndNews, Uganda, Jane Kyakuhaire and Harriet Kunihira all residents of Katikara village in Kyangwali, both said it is shocking that the services extended closer to them cannot be accessed due to the existence of greedy officials misusing their offices.
They also disclosed that the extortion, which is not even discriminating ages has left both young and old paying the same amount to access services.
At the latest campaign meetings in Kyangwali and Katikara parishes ahead of the Kikuube LC5 by-election, the NRM electoral commissioner, Jane Alisemera Babiiha, was briefed by the residents on the NIRA dilemma.
The residents asked for speedy interventions.
Vincent Opio, the outgoing Kikuube vice chairperson, explained that they have been receiving many reports of extortion, and some officers have been arrested.
Opio says this problem needs to be handled seriously by different stakeholders in the district.
NRM’s Babiiha therefore asked NIRA top management to tame their grassroots officers because it might affect the NRM votes and image.
Meanwhile, the Kikuube District NIRA registration officer, Huzaifa Alinaitwe, says the issuance of the national IDs is totally free. She said those who pay the money do it willingly. “It is not a must that someone who does not pay does not get the card.”
According to her, the allegations cannot affect the voting process, noting that they have intensified campaigns as voting day, scheduled for June 18, nears.
The race for the Kikuube LC5 seat has two candidates: Paddy Kisembo of NRM and Fenekansi Timanyire of the National Unity Platform (NUP).
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