New NIRA boss urged to fight corruption at the authority

The Chief Justice, Alfonse Owiny-Dollo has urged the new executive director of the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) to fight corruption at the authority as one of the ways to improve public trust.

He made the remarks while presiding over the swearing-in ceremony of Rosemary Kisembo as the newly appointed boss of NIRA.

She replaces Judy Obitre Gama whose contract as executive director expired last year. By law, as per the Registration of Persons Act, 2015, the agency’s executive director becomes a member and the secretary to its board of directors.

"Fight corruption as a functional institution, whether the real one or the perceived corruption," Owiny-Dollo said, adding that corruption cripples service delivery and public trust of any institution.

Owiny-Dollo also challenged the board to "put in place an integrated system between NIRA and Police where lost ID cards can be traced and information shared without compromising security."

The NIRA board chairperson, Joseph Biribonwa, said that despite plans to improve service delivery by introducing online applications and migration from the old to the new digital ID card among other innovations, the authority was still faced with several challenges including the ageing technology and equipment, negative perception and insufficient manpower.

He however assured the public that after “migrating to the new ID card, the people of Uganda will be served with efficiency.”