Uganda: NIRA Withholds 15,000 National IDs of Maragoli Tribe
Published: 24/May/2017
Source: The Observer (Kampala)
The National Identification Registration Agency (NIRA) is continuing to hold unto 15,000 national identity cards of members of the Maragoli community on grounds that they are not a recognised tribe in Uganda.
The Maragoli community settled in present-day Uganda in the 1920s after migrating from the British Protectorate of Kenya.
Charles Ntairehoki, the Kiryandongo district Local Council chairperson, says NIRA has continued to defy the January 2017 directive of the minister for Internal Affairs Gen. Jeje Odongo to release the national IDs for those who were registered.
Ntairehoki says that Gen Odongo directive followed non-compliance by the NIRA after the Solicitor General had advised that the Maragoli community members be issued with their identity cards since they had already been registered despite not being constitutionally recognised as a Ugandan tribe.
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