Parliament has cleared several newly appointed ministers who previously held dual citizenship after confirming that they had formally renounced their foreign nationalities in compliance with Uganda’s constitutional requirements.
Speaking after the Appointments Committee concluded the vetting exercise on Monday, Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said Parliament had conducted thorough verification with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and established that all affected nominees had legally relinquished their foreign citizenship.
Tayebwa revealed that four of the vetted appointees had raised citizenship concerns during the scrutiny process.
“We did a verification with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and discovered that we had three colleagues who had dual citizenship and one colleague who had marital citizenship,” Tayebwa said.
The Deputy Speaker did not reveal which ministers gave up their foreign nationalities to serve in cabinet.
Social media has been awash with names. The ministers whose citizenship status came under review and were talk of the town included; Adonia Ayebare, Lawrence Muganga, Sanjay Tanna, Calvin Echodu, and Shartsi Musherure.
According to Tayebwa, the committee carefully examined documentation proving that the nominees had renounced their citizenship of other countries before being approved for public office.
“We have looked at it extensively and all of them have records showing they renounced their citizenship of the other countries,” he said.
The Deputy Speaker commended the ministers for what he described as a patriotic sacrifice, noting that some had established families and livelihoods abroad but chose to prioritize service to Uganda.
“They’ve taken a patriotic step of choosing Uganda above all. These are painful decisions that are made,” Tayebwa said.
“Some of these people have families in those countries. Whatever they have been making in those countries, they send back to Uganda to develop Uganda. But they have taken the painful decision of renouncing the citizenship of the other countries.”
He added that Parliament appreciated their commitment to the country and viewed their decision as a demonstration of loyalty and dedication to national service.
Uganda’s Constitution bars holders of dual citizenship from occupying certain public offices unless they formally renounce their foreign nationality. The issue has previously generated debate during parliamentary approval processes for senior government appointments.
The Appointments Committee’s clearance of the nominees paves the way for their formal assumption of ministerial duties following President Yoweri Museveni’s recent Cabinet reshuffle.
