Kakwenza children's passports are ready for pick up, immigration says

The Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control has rubbished reports that they denied passports to the children of self-exiled writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija.

Addressing journalists at the joint security weekly press on Monday, Simon Peter Mundeyi, who is the spokesperson of the Internal Affairs ministry said that the allegations are false and have no basis.

According to Mundeyi, Kakwenza’s children, like all other Ugandans applied for passports in March this year, a time when immigration was grappling with challenges in its system, causing major delays.

“What happened was that during that time, we were doing a system upgrade and cut the production of passports by 60 percent,” Mundeyi said.

The immigration mouthpiece said that the process of producing passports at half capacity ended about two to three weeks back, and they are now clearing the backlog.

He said that Kakwenza’s children are now free to pick their passports as these are now ready.

“The children's passports are now ready for pick up in Kyambogo…” he said.

Mundeyi also asserted that Ugandans should know that the immigration docket does not involve itself in politics, and therefore the institution’s name should not be tainted.

“We don't involve politics in our work at the passport office. I want to make that very clear,” he said.

Last week, Kakwenza, through his lawyers of Kiiza and Mugisha Advocates petition the Human Rights Commission, saying that his three children (names withheld) aged 2,4 and 9 had been denied their constitutional right of owning a passport by immigration officials.

Kakwenza said that despite their lawyers and parents following up with immigration since March 2022, the officials had refused to grant the children their passports.

Kakwenza is currently self-exiled in Germany where he fled shortly after being granted bail. He said that he escaped because of fear for his life in Uganda.

His sureties were made to pay after he escaped.