Local Leaders Messing Up ID Registration In Mutukula

The village council chairpersons around the Uganda-Tanzania border post have been accused of messing up the ongoing National Identification registration in Mutukula town council.  

The National Identification Registration Authority-NIRA redeployed their staffs at sub counties and divisions offices to resume registration all citizens who missed out on the first exercise conducted in 2015.

However, at the Uganda-Tanzania in Mutukula Town council, the process is flawed with confusion ranging from registration of non-Ugandans to falsification personal data and attempts of double registrations.

This reporter has established that many aliens are beating the process to enter into the system. These area taking advantage of the porous border points to cross into Uganda from Tanzania especially at night, before they unscrupulously obtain village recommendation letters and accordingly seek registration for Ugandan IDs.  

Stephen Ssebunya, the interim chairperson for Mutukula town council confirms the aliens are bribing villages council chairpersons to issue them with recommendation letters to facilitate their registration, and that indeed some have successfully been entered into the national data bank. 

He explains that the aliens are even found of crossing beyond Mukutula to other registration centers in neighboring sub counties of Kakuuto and Kyebe.

//Cue in; “ekyamazima process….. 

Cue out: ……omuze ogwo.”//  

The NIRA staffs deployed at the Mutukula Town council headquarters have declined to speak about the matter, but residents in area are also accusing them of soliciting bribes from the aliens to register them as Ugandans. 

Francis Ssebadduka, the acting town clerk for Mutukula town council has also confirmed the situation, however indicating there are trying to avert it by tightening the screening processes at the registration centers.  

According to him, the process is being challenged by the many multilinguals at the border post who are even capable of manipulating the system to register for Uganda ID’s for selfish interests.   

 //Cue in: “there are some….. Cue out: …..not be Ugandans.’’//  

Luganda  

//Cue in: “abantu abo…..Cue out; ….byetwogeddeko waggulu.”// Innocent Agori, the Officer in Charge of Operation at Mutukula police station says that their teams are always repulsing such elements that attempt to compromise the registration process back into Tanzania. 

But Magdalen Nassolo, the chairperson of Lwazi ‘A’ Cell in Mutukula town council, says some of the said aliens are known residents of Uganda who have settled within its boundaries for a long time and owning known spouses, arguing that there is no way such people can be locked out from the opportunity to register for IDs. 

//Cue in: “enangamuntu wano……  

Cue out; …..nga bamazeeyo emyaka.”//