Kapiri residents complain of corrupt officers

–Some people seeking to replace their damaged or lost green National Registration Cards (NRC) at the department of National Registration in Kapiri Mposhi district have complained over the alleged corruption of some officers at the government department.

The members of public have accused some officers at the National Registration Office of soliciting money from clients before processing their NRCs.

The clients, who stormed ZANIS today to air their grievances, said the officers were asking for as much as KR50 to process documents to facilitate production of lost or damaged NRCs.

Group representative, Noah Mutisa, complained that some people are being turned away if they do not produce money to the officers.

Mr Mutisa also said some people were failing to acquire NRCs even if they have obtained police reports on their lost NRCs due to the officers’ corrupt practices.

“They are asking for money for talk time and lunch before they process our NRCs,” Mr Mutisa said.

He called on relevant wings of government to investigate the matter to fish-out the suspected corrupt officers at the institution.

And Mr Mutisa appealed to government to computerise systems at the National Registration Offices to enable the department to operate effectively.

But District Registration Officer, Modestus Kapulamundabala, dismissed the reports.

Mr Kapulamundabala said his department was only charging the clients the sanctioned fees on damaged and lost cards.

According to the service charter the department of National Registration charges KR 2.3 and KR 3.1 for replacement of damaged and lost NRCs respectively and does not charge anything on eligible applicants obtaining NRCs for the first time.

He advised clients to avoid engaging middlemen in the process of obtaining NRCs, noting that the accused people involved in soliciting for bribes were not officers at the institution.

Mr Kapulamundabala said the department has a clear service charter that the people looking for services from it should always refer to in order to avoid falling prey to middlemen in the process of acquiring the documents.

“No… that report is not true…. we are not charging for anything other than fees that we are mandated and are indicated on the service charter stuck outside our offices for everyone to see.. I can just urge our clients to avoid engaging middlemen in the process of getting their NRCs”, Mr Kapulamundabala said.

He urged the affected people to identify the officers soliciting bribes and report them to police.