The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) has issued a directive to religious leaders to forthwith refrain from conducting holy matrimony formalities to couples not holding national identification cards.
The Uganda Episcopal Conference General Secretary Msgr John B. Kauta, in a letter to Roman Catholic and Anglican Church bishops dated 28 August, requested them to ensure compliance by circulating the letter to lower cadres in their churches.
In the same vein, the Secretary of the Anglican Province Rev. Capt. William Ongeng confirmed having received the directive earlier on in July this year, and having accordingly circulated it to their lower authorities.
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Confirming the development, Can. Ongeng said among preliminary requirements from couples seeking holy matrimony are their national identity cards or documents from the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) indicating their national identification numbers (NINs), showing other requirements like their birth dates.
Uganda Muslim Supreme Council spokesperson Ashraf Zziwa Muvawala confirmed having received the letter to that effect and that they have started implementing the directive.
And the Vicar of the Orthodox Cathedral at Namungoona Fr. John Kibuuka said that as a church, they have no problem with the new directive because to them it is nothing new as they have been asking for the Ids from people seeking to finalise holy matrimony.
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In an explanation from the URSB, the spokesperson Dennis Nabende said that although the government is directly responsible for people’s marriages, there has been a challenge to register such people with no national identity cards.
He added that the development is in consonance with the government policy that for anyone to receive government services, they should be holders of national identity cards or at least a document indicating their identification numbers.
Nabende said that in the past, religious institutions have been asking for baptism tickets only, leaving a loophole as and when these people come seeking services from the government. ‘These institutions are only helping execute that duty on behalf of the government and to remove all encumbrances that have been encountered in registering married couples in the past, we deemed it necessary that they hold national IDs’, he said.
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