Press release from NIRA
May 08, 2019
RESPONSE TO THE SUNDAY VISION ARTICLE ALLEGING FORGERY IN NATIONAL ID REGISTRATION PROCESSES
Our attention has been drawn to an investigative report published in the Sunday Vision of May 5th 2019 under the title "For Sh. 100,000 you can buy Ugandan Citizenship". The report raises a number of allegations, inter alia, that there is forgery and bribery in the national ID registration process.
As a matter of fact, citizenship of Uganda is conferred under Chapter Three of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda which stipulates the various forms of citizenship and who qualifies for each type. It can therefore never be sold.
We also wish to state, that the Government of Uganda has made huge investments in setting up the National Identification System in the country starting with the mass enrolment of Ugandans in 2014 and issuance of the first ever national IDs in 2015 under the National Security Information System Project and that established the National Security Information System (NSIS). The project was a huge success and has been hailed as one of the best in Africa by credible institutions like the World Bank.
Consequently, the Uganda National ID has been internationally accepted as a credible security document that is now even used as a travel document through international airports and across borders in the region. In addition, the national register where the biodata of all the individuals registered is kept has been accepted as an authentic primary source of information and identification of individuals and therefore there is a growing demand from both public and private institutions to access the information for validation purposes.