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NIRA Lira office stuck with 18,000 national IDs
The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) is stuck with more than 18,000 uncollected National Identity cards in Lira District, an official has said
What you need to know:
- Government has made it mandatory that for one to acquire a new SIM card, they must present an original ID to get registered at the mobile telecom company.
The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) is stuck with more than 18,000 uncollected National Identity cards in Lira District, an official has said.
The district registration officer, Mr Samuel Okello, told Daily Monitor in an interview on Monday that 18,128 IDs had not been collected by their owners despite repeated calls.
Mr Okello said the IDs are at their office in senior quarters, Central Division in Lira Municipality, which also houses the Electoral Commission northern regional office.
The issuance of the IDs started in December 2014 and ended in August 2015. However, registration for those who did not get them has been on-going at the district offices.
“We are registering as well as issuing IDs, so I urge the public to come to our offices and receive their national IDs or even get registered,” Mr Okello said.
He said they will also conduct outreach programmes for registration and replacment from Monday to Wednesday next week at all sub-county headquarters in the district.
“The requirements one needs for replacement is a police letter which is not more than 21 days old, pay a fee of Shs50,000 plus the bank charges of Shs2,000 to any bank and fill NIRA form 11,” Mr Okello said.
He said it takes a maximum of three months to have the card replaced and the owners can pick them at their offices.
Mr Okello said people had been complaining of congestion at NIRA headquarters in Kololo, Kampala, when they go to replace their lost IDs, adding that it was also expensive for them to travel there.
Why IDS?
Government has made it mandatory that for one to acquire a new SIM card, they must present an original ID to get registered at the mobile telecom company. The same applies to opening bank accounts. Civil servants without a national ID are deleted from the payroll.
