The Ministry of Internal Affairs has been asked to end the practice of charging fees on birth and death certificates.
A section of lawmakers are wondering where Government expects unemployed children to get money from and why loved ones should pay for a death certificate of a loved one.
The call was made by Flavia Kabahenda (pictured), the Chairperson of Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection while addressing journalists ahead of the International Day for the Older Persons.
“I think the Shs5000 attached to death certificates should be completely brushed off. We can’t even ask for subsidies, we want it completely away because this is a right and when the dead are dead, where do you expect the Shs5000 to come from? From the dead? isn’t it a shame, I think we should just scrap it off completely, it is a right for anyone to be identified with the country where that person belongs,” Kabahenda said.
She revealed that Uganda is slated to commemorate the International Day for Older Persons in Nebbi district under the theme; Resilience for Older Persons to cope in changing world and there is need to highlight the systematic impediments to the access of National Identity Card and how this challenges has hampered access to social security programs.
She argued that in 2018 when Government established the Senior Citizens Grant requiring each beneficiary to possess a national identity card, out of the 200,500 older persons that were targeted by Ministry of Gender, only 174,873 were verified, thus leaving out 25,627 because they didn’t have national IDs or had errors on their national IDs.
Kabahenda also questioned the logic behind imposing a fee on obtaining birth certificates from children yet the National Identity Card for adults is free.
“I don’t know where the children work for them to pay to be registered as citizens and nationals of this country. It is a shame, it is very laughable that adults are given for free and the children are charged. The birth certificate gives these children nationality, identity and citizenship, so it is their right. So you can’t start levying money from children and leaving adults to have free services,” said Kabahenda.
The Forum also rejected the proposal by Ministry of Internal Affairs increasing fees for replacement of National IDs from the current Shs50,000 to Shs200,000, saying this will further exacerbate the lack of access to national IDs among the vulnerable group like elderly and poor and leave possession of IDs to only the rich.
Milton Muwuma Secretary General of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection called for the need to relocate the headquarters of the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) from Kololo Independence Grounds, because it has become a home famed for national functions, meaning services of NIRA are disrupted.
He said, “We are urging government to give us a permanent home for NIRA. Kololo is no longer feasible. You find this place working once or twice a week. Whenever there are national celebrations, it is a no go area. Let us do it now that the budgeting process is getting underway so that it is planned for.”
