Former staff of the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) have petitioned the Speaker over what they termed was their unfair termination from employment.
Petitioners who were led by Members of the Parliamentary Forum on Youth Affairs met the Speaker, Rebecca Kadaga on Thursday, 1st March 2018 and said that they were asked to handover over office within two days, which was not provided for in their employment terms.
Dickson Musinguzi, a former NIRA Issuance Officer based in Isingiro district, said that they were informed of their termination verbally, which left many of them surprised by the actions of the Management.
“We received calls from our respective district IT Officers asking us to handover without any explanation,” he said.
Hon Mpaka Mwine said the 117 NIRA staff were laid off without any complaint of dissatisfaction on their performance.
Mwine was concerned with the treatment by NIRA of the laid off staff, and said, “none of these staff were retained in the recently concluded recruitment exercise. Instead, NIRA brought in new staff”.
Kadaga wondered whether the newly recruited staff are more qualified than those who were laid off.
Hon Abbas Agaba (Kitagwenda County) questioned the security of national information if NIRA lays off staff without proper handover. “The laid off staff have national information. What if they decide to give it away carelessly?” he asked.
The petitioners prayed that the Speaker uses her authority to ask NIRA to pay them six months compensation as per their terms of employment. They also prayed that NIRA issues them letters of recommendation to enable them seek employment elsewhere.
Kadaga promised to study the petition adding that, “let me assure these young people that we are going to take action on this matter”.
