ID renewal: Busoga PWDs want tailored services

JINJA - Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the Busoga region have called on the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) to rein in its officials who discriminate against them during the mass national Identity card (ID) renewal exercise.

They say that during past national registration and documentation processes, many of them were subjected to neglect and insensitive remarks from some registration officials.

Jinja city deputy mayor Fazira Kawuma explained that during the first mass registration exercise, many PWDs were left out simply because they could not easily access registration centres or were misunderstood due to a communication barrier.

Kawuma, who is visually impaired, warned that discrimination, whether intentional or systemic, only deepens their exclusion and a violation of their rights.

“We are not asking for favours but demanding equal treatment, documentation is a human right, and no one should be left behind because of a disability. An identity card is not just a document but a gateway to essential services, opportunities and participation in national programmes,” she said on June 16, 2025.

Kawuma was speaking on Monday as the chief guest at the launch of a shillings 1.2 billion office block as part of activities to mark 25 years of existence of the Integrated Disabled Women Activities (IDIWA) at Buseyi B village in Nakalama sub-county, Iganga district.

Kawuma cited some challenges of PWDs as total blindness, lack of fingerprints, lack of guides to take them to registration centres, language barrier and lack of sign language interpreters who would link them to NIRA registrars.

She asked NIRA to make deliberate efforts to provide services tailored to their needs, which include securing sign language interpreters at registration centres, ensuring easy accessibility for wheelchair users and deploying mobile registration teams to capture those unable to travel.

“Once any PWD seeks the service, please guide them and only capture the readable features of that person. If you neglect them and we receive any report about neglect, I will not hesitate to sue NIRA in the courts of law because this service is for every Ugandan,” she said.

Elizebeth Kayanga (R) after her remarks to church members. (Credit: Doreen Musingo)

The mass national ID renewal exercise aims to update biometric data, replace expired cards, and enrol unregistered citizens across the country, where the PWD community hopes that this year’s exercise will be a turning point in how national institutions engage with vulnerable groups.

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), PWDs constitute at least 12.4% of the country’s total population.

IDIWA executive director Elizabeth Kayanga said it was established in 2000 to transform the lives of PWDs who face challenges both at the family and society level, which include denial of basic rights.

Kayanga said IDIWA has to date changed lives of over 110,000 women and girls with disabilities in Busoga under the gender justice, sexual reproductive health and rights, economic justice and empowerment with leadership thematic areas.

“We have managed to empower them with business skills through apprenticeship programmes in local vocational institutions and later given them initial capital for small-scale business, which helps sustain their families,” she said.

Kayanga explained that through this, many have managed to purchase property like commercial buildings and motorcycles, which give them a daily income and stop dependence on relatives and community people.

She explained that through reproductive health, they have managed to engage local government, whereby they have provided adjustable beds and ramps in health centres, while children with complex problems are taken to specialised hospitals for treatment.

She added that in the districts of Kaliro and Kamuli, IDIWA taught health workers sign language, health rights and hopes that with combined efforts from the Government, health workers will give better services.

The function started with a thanksgiving service led by the Rev. Can. Alfred Bolya of St Peter's Church, Beseyi, who said in order to be successful, PWDs should have a vision in which they believe to attain their dreams.