We Won’t Implement Museveni’s Order; Banyarwanda are Foreigners – Otafiire

In a display of impunity and blatant insubordination, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, has thrown President Museveni’s Executive Order into the dustbin, refusing to implement directives that were designed to protect the rights of Uganda’s indigenous Banyarwanda. This executive order, intended to end years of systemic discrimination, was supposed to ensure that Banyarwanda are granted their rightful citizenship documents—passports and national IDs just like any other Ugandans. Instead, Otafiire has declared an open war against them, shamelessly branding them as foreigners and vowing to block their access to fundamental rights.

Appearing on CBS Radio shortly after the President issued the order, Otafiire didn’t mince words when he referred to them as foreigners and thus would “fight tooth and nail” to prevent them from obtaining passports. This is not just administrative defiance—it’s an act of ethnic discrimination and sabotage against the very authority of the President. By rejecting the Executive Order, Otafiire is not only undermining the law but also fueling a dangerous narrative of hate and exclusion against a community that has lived in Uganda for over a century.

Otafiire is not alone in this hate campaign against indigenous Banyarwanda. Sources reveal that he is working hand-in-hand with other high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, including the Permanent Secretary, Maj. Musanyufu, Brig. Johnson Namanya Abaho – Commissioner for Citizenship and Passport Control, and Kajuga Dickson, a senior immigration officer. These officials have issued internal directives to immigration officers, ordering them to turn away indigenous Banyarwanda applicants seeking passports. They claim that these Ugandans are actually Rwandan nationals.

This week the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka met officials at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and guided that they should follow the Executive Order but todate they have not done it.

This blatant defiance of the President’s orders raises critical questions: Who do these officials think they are? What power do they possess that allows them to openly defy an Executive Order issued in accordance with Ugandan law? And more disturbingly—why this deep-seated hatred against the indigenous Banyarwanda

President Museveni with Frank Gashumba after a meeting about Banyarwanda (file photo)

Background to the issue.

Indigenous Banyarwanda, who have lived in Uganda for generations, have been continued to face discrimination and suffering. Their dreams, livelihoods, and even their very survival are being systematically destroyed by these officials’ refusal to follow lawful orders.

Take the case of Muhoza Agnes Kamwiza. After her passport application was denied last year, she returned to the immigration office following the Executive Order, hoping for justice. Instead, she faced humiliation and harassment. Officer Kajuga Dickson not only refused to process her application but also confiscated her phone, accusing her of recording their interaction, and seized her national ID. When she sought help from the Commissioner, she was told flatly that the Executive Order was irrelevant and would not be honored.

Agnes’s story is not unique. Many indigenous Banyarwanda, including single mothers seeking employment in the Middle East, elderly individuals in need of medical care abroad, and young students awarded scholarships to study internationally, have been turned away. Some have even lost their lives because they couldn’t access the medical care they desperately needed abroad, while others watch their dreams shatter as job and education opportunities slip away.

The cruelty of this discrimination is compounded by its sheer illegality and historical ignorance. The indigenous Banyarwanda have deep roots in Uganda, predating colonial boundaries. Place like Masaka and Kibuye which have Kinyarwanda names reflect this history, and the 1911 census recorded Banyarwanda as a Ugandan tribe. Their citizenship was reaffirmed in the 1962 Constitution and the 1996 Constitution which lists Banyarwanda in number 24 as a tribe that exited in Uganda by 1926. However these have been subjected to a humiliating process whenever they apply for passports which raised questions as to why they aren’t treated as any other Ugandans.

So why are officials like Otafiire, Musanyufu, Namanya, and Kajuga so determined to erase this history and deny these Ugandans their rights? Is it sheer incompetence, a personal vendetta, or a more sinister agenda of ethnic hatred?

Council For Abavandimwe Executive members with the President

Undermining the President.

This situation is more than just an internal administrative issue—it’s a direct challenge to the authority of the President and the rule of law in Uganda. If officials can openly defy the President’s Executive Orders without consequence, what does this say about governance in the country? Who is really running the Ministry of Internal Affairs—President Museveni or rogue officials pushing their personal agendas?

The refusal to implement this Executive Order is not just an insult to the President; it is an assault on Uganda’s legal system and a betrayal of the principles of justice and equality that the country claims to uphold.

Background to the Executive Order.
Following the systematic discrimination against the indigenous Banyarwanda, the Council For Abavandimwe, an organisation bringing together indigenous Banyarwanda started a campaign to fight for their rights. They met several stakeholders who included the then Minister of Internal Affairs Gen Jeje Odong, Inspector General of Government (IGG), Equal Opportunities Commission, Uganda Human Rights Commission and former Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah. They also met the current Speaker of Parliament Rt Hon Annet Anita Among and the matter was debated before Parliament. Finally Council For Abavandimwe met the President who presented the issue in Cabinet and resolved to issue an Executive Order which was finally issued on 23rd Jan 2025 stopping all kinds of discrimination against indigenous Banyarwanda and any other tribes. The President also wondered how a citizen can produce a non citizen, wondering how immigration officers can deny someone a passport when all his or her parents are Ugandans with passports.