President Museveni To Issue Executive Order To Rescue Bavandimwe Woes On Passports And National IDs

President Museveni To Issue Executive Order To Rescue Bavandimwe Woes On Passports And National IDs

By Angel Lubowa

KAMPALA

President Museveni has agreed to come to the rescue of the rampant suffering of the indigenous Uganda Rwandans stipulated in the 1995 constitution by issuing an executive order .

This was announced by Mr Frank Gashumba a man of many tittles who doubles as the patron and founder of the National Council For Abavandimwe which brings together most indigenous Banyarwanda in Uganda.

During a highly attended meeting of Abawandimwe and other groupings of indigenous Banyarwanda in Uganda which sat at Speke hotel in Kampala Saturday 11, January 2025, Gashumba announced the news with courage causing excitement among members.

” We met the president more than once . He gave us long hours to listen to our problems. I took with me my executive on some of the encounters and some members who had gone through challenges getting passports and national IDs and he finally agreed to come to our rescue by issuing an executive order soon” said Gashumba.
Banyarwanda of Uganda origins have for a long time been facing challenges getting passports and national IDs because officials see them as Rwandans from Rwanda.

For this matter they chase them advising them to get such documents from Rwanda where they say they don’t belong either.

In other cases they are abused, asked to bring documentations going back to 1920s or asked to parade grand parents or such relatives or burials sites photos according to testimonies which members gave to the president and in the Saturday meeting.

However Gashumba who said their matter has now gone to cabinet after president Museveni introduced it their and also in Hansard since they took it Parliament was optimistic of a lasting solution.

He rallied members to support president Museveni in the coming election to show him their appreciations.

In the same gathering, Dr Lawrence Muganga the vice chancellor of Victoria university who is also a high member of the National Council For Abavandimwe urged Banyarwanda to unite for their cause.

He said the matter was not personal but was for the good of their rights and for the benefit of their incoming generation.

Speaker after speaker, the message was to work together as opposed to selfishness and small groupings.

Initially Gashumba took the meeting through their journey saying they have encountered various offices like the IGG, speaker, minister of internal affairs, human rights commission and equal opportunities commission among others. He said they went to Parliament and their deliberations captured in the Hansard and the matter has also been discussed in cabinet and asked members to hope for the better this time round.