NIRA launches app to track ID service complaints

KAMPALA - Ugandans facing challenges while seeking national identity services will soon be able to report their complaints directly to the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) through a new mobile application.

The application will allow citizens to report poor service, identify the centre where an incident occurred and provide details for follow-up. NIRA executive director, Rosemary Kisembo, said the application is intended to enable the authority to receive complaints quickly and respond to them in real time.

“If someone keeps tossing you up and down, you will download the NIRA app from PlayStore or from Apple Store,” Kisembo said on the second day of the three-day My Identity Expo and Symposium 2026 at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.

Kisembo, however, said NIRA checks its original registration records before determining who is responsible for an error and whether a correction fee applies. (All Photos by Ponsiano Nsimbi)

She said users will be able to take a picture of the staff member involved, indicate the service centre and submit the complaint through the application.

“We shall receive instant feedback, and we shall be able to handle the matter in real time,” Kisembo said.

The new system comes as members of the public attending the expo continue to raise concerns about access to national identity services, including delayed cards, errors in personal details and difficulties following up on applications.

For Ramathan Hatibu Hangi from Kampala, one of the concerns is the cost of correcting errors on national identity cards.

“The problem is if they make mistakes on the cards, they want you to pay 200,000, yet it’s them who made these mistakes,” Hangi said.

He appealed to NIRA to consider the circumstances of citizens who may struggle to meet the cost of correcting their personal information.

“We all want IDs. We ask them to consider our complaints. These payments are not worth it for citizens who don’t even have what to eat at their homes,” he said.

Kisembo, however, said NIRA checks its original registration records before determining who is responsible for an error and whether a correction fee applies.

She said the authority keeps the original forms filled out by applicants during registration, allowing officials to establish whether an error was made by the applicant or by NIRA staff.

Where an error is found to have been made by NIRA, she said the correction is made at no cost.

“The one paying 200,000 is the one who made the error,” she said, explaining that the fee applies where an applicant supplied incorrect information during registration and later seeks to change it.

She gave the example of a person who registered under one name and later sought to replace it with another, saying such a change requires a different process from correcting an error made during data capture.

The issue of missing or delayed cards was also raised at the expo. Kisembo said some cards reported as missing may already have been delivered to the collection centres selected by applicants during registration.

The My Identity Expo and Symposium 2026, organised by NIRA with support from Vision Group, Bank of Uganda, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), NITA-Uganda and Tahaluf.