President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has signed an Executive Order aimed at protecting citizenship rights in Uganda.

“By virtue of the authority vested in the President by Article 99 (1) and (4) of the Constitution, this Executive Order is made on the 24th of January, 2025,” the President said.
According to the President, he has consistently received complaints regarding the manner in which people applying for passports are sometimes treated by the concerned authorities. This mainly relates to how the question of whether or not an applicant is a citizen of Uganda is approached, when he or she has applied for a passport.
President Museveni’s directive follows numerous complaints from a group of Banyarwanda who were born and raised in Uganda, who on several occasions cited human rights violations from authorities. They claimed that they were being denied identification documents such as passports and national identity cards, despite being Ugandan citizens of the Banyarwanda tribe.
However, in the executive order, President Museveni clarified that the issue of citizenship was resolved under Chapter 3 of the 1995 Constitution which provides for three types of citizenship; citizenship by birth; citizenship by registration and citizenship by naturalization.
“Clearly, the issue is not the law or any gaps in it but how the law is administered with regard to proof of citizenship by applicants for passports or other documents of identity,” he said.
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