By Spy Uganda
Kampala: After a section of Banyarwanda community calling themselves Bavandimwe visited President Museveni last week and reportedly received shs300m, another section of Banyarwanda under their umbrella body, The Uganda Banyarwanda Cultural Development Association (UMUBANO) has Monday held a press conference in which they distanced themselves from the categorization known as “Bavandimwe” to mean Banyarwanda community living in Uganda.
Banyarwanda community under the leadership of Simon Kayitana under the Legal guidance of renowned city lawyer and politician Fred Mukasa Mbidde accuse Frank Gashumba and his team of ‘selling’ them to the highest bidder to the extent of reaching a point of trying to change their name from Banyarwanda to Bavandimwe, a term that means brotherhood, and not necessarily a tribe or Ugandans of Rwandese origin.
“Let me tell you my brother Irumba, You’re a Mutooro, that’s your tribe and it’s what is captured in the constitution of Uganda. Someone can’t rename you another thing that doesn’t exist in the constitution, in fact alienating you from the constitution by naming you different and claim to be fighting for your existence. We’re a Ugandan tribe called Banyarwanda and it’s in the constitution, so anybody trying to ‘hawk’ us to the biggest bidder by changing our identity is simply self centred, ” Mbidde told our Chief Spy Andrew Irumba via phone conversation on Monday evening.
Mbidde and his group on Monday held a press conference at Speke Hotel in Kampala in which they officially launched a Country wide ‘consultative’ program which intends to seek the views of the wider groups on the next course of action.
” This weekend we’re beginning with Kayunga, our people are already there on ground to make the necessary arrangements, ” Mbidde added.
Mbidde and group also argued that they were not consulted on the meeting with the President and therefore, they have no confidence that their views were represented.
“I think some people are trying to use us as a commodity, which is not acceptable,” another member added during the Press conference.
During the same press conference, group denounced Gashumba and further suspended him from all Banyarwanda-related activities.
However, when contacted for a comment on the allegations, Gashumba responded thus:
Irumba: “Hi Muvandimwe, I’m told you led a group of Bavandimwe to the President and later received a brown envelope of shs300m, is it true?”
Gashumba: ” No, we received shs20B, not shs300m. Bagambe obwo busente butono nnyo, twafunye shs20B (loosely meaning shs 300m is just peanuts, tell them we received shs 20B). Kankugambe muganda wange (Let me tell you my brother), we’ve achieved in a short time what that group failed to achieve in many years. Because the president has promised to issue an executive order on our issue as they wait to handle it constitutionally, we’ve already got an answer which they failed to get in many years. So that’s the whole enmity they now have on Bavandimwe group, teri kilala (nothing else),” he said.
During the said meeting at State House Entebbe, President Museveni committed to rectifying the injustices, vowing to ensure that Banyarwanda Ugandans receive their rightful national IDs and passports without prejudice.
President Museveni’s pledge to address inconsistencies within the law and its application has been seen as a monumental step toward unity and equality, reflecting the principles upon which Uganda stands.
Gashumba, who has been advocating for the rights of Bavandimwe expressed hope after the meeting.
“This is not just a win for the Banyarwanda, but a win for justice and equality. President Museveni’s commitment to addressing these issues brings hope to many families who have endured hardships simply for seeking recognition as rightful Ugandan citizens,” Gashumba said.
“We are confident that with the President’s support, we can put an end to the systemic obstacles that have long plagued our community.” he added.
With an aim to advocate for their rights, the Banyarwanda group has been convening engagements with different stake holders over what they describe ‘injustices’ against them in Uganda.
According to their legal officer Mukasa Mbidde, the Banyarwanda community in Uganda have been facing difficulties in acquiring national identity cards and passports since noting that they considered by the Ugandan government as non-Ugandans.
In their previous meetings, Mbidde noted that this whole mistake of denying Banyarwanda citizenship started way back in 1995 when the constitution framers twisted the law and stated that for one to be considered a Ugandan must have at least a parent or grandparent from one of the indigenous communities in Uganda or was in Uganda before 1926.
“The secret behind this confusion was greed for power, these framers of the 1995 constitution had a target of ensuring that Banyarwanda never at one point would have the opportunity to be leaders in this country, so they had to find a way of limiting their citizenship,” the truth is Uganda officially became a country in 1962, don’t bring the history of 1926, because then it was not a country but a kraal, what you happily call a British Protectorate, so you can’t refer to that to say Banyarwanda were not Ugandans and by they way, they should go back to school and learn the difference between Banyarwanda and Rwandans, the two are different.”
In the same vein, Kayitana revealed that by 1948, Banyarwanda were the fifth-biggest community in Uganda making a total of over 5.9%.
”These people categorizing us as non-Ugandans should wake up and look for facts, the information is available. By 1948 Uganda had over 4,917,555 Ugandans from the main tribes of this country and among these, 289,051 were Banyarwanda. Therefore, call us non Ugandans knowing that we are actually great ancestors in this country,” noted Kayitana who currently represents Banyarwanda community in the Buganda Lukiiko.
