Chief Justice Owiny-Dollo Presides over Swearing-in of New NIRA ED

The Chief Justice, Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny-Dollo, presided over the swearing-in ceremony of Rosemary Kisembo as the newly appointed executive director of the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA).

At the Friday ceremony, which took place at the Judiciary headquarters, Kisembo took both the Oath of Secrecy and Oath of Office.

She replaces Judy Obitre–Gama whose contract 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.

The Chief Justice urged the new director to fight corruption at NIRA as one of the ways to improve public trust.

“Fight corruption as a functional institution, whether the real one or the perceived corruption,” he said, adding that corruption cripples service delivery and public trust of any institution.

He 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 N. Biribonwa noted that despite the 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 CJ that after “migrating to the new ID card, the people of Uganda will be served with efficiency.”