Gashumba: We don’t have any other home but Uganda
Published: 30/Aug/2026
Source: The Monitor (Kampala)
Recently, Juma Witonze Kisekka, a member of Abavandimwe, was appointed State minister of Internal Affairs, thus getting directions from President Museveni to sort out the citizenship questions that have faced the community. We had an interface with Frank Gashumba, the chairman of the Abavandimwe.
Mr Frank Gashumba, the chairperson of the Abavandimwe Association, is no stranger to controversy. When we met this week, he wasted little time in dropping a controversial take, stating that there have previously been attempts by the Internal Affairs ministry to make his community stateless.
“We are Ugandans a hundred percent. We don’t have any other place we call home apart from Uganda. Surprisingly, there is a section of Ugandans who think we are not Ugandans,” he told Weekend Monitor, adding:“For the last seven years, we have been fighting for our rights: Banyarwanda, or Abavandimwe, are not seeking any special privileges from [the] government but the right to access a National ID [Identity Card] and a passport. That is, it. Remember, without a National ID, there is nothing you can do.”
Recently, Mr Juma Witonze Kisekka, a member of Abavandimwe (previously known as Banyarwanda), was appointed the junior Internal Affairs minister. It is said that he was instructed to get to the bottom of citizenship questions that have plagued Mr Gashumba’s community. Members of the Abavandimwe say they are exasperated that despite being recognised by Uganda’s 1995 Constitution as being among the 65 indigenous communities, they have to furnish the National Identification and Registration Authority (Nira) with forensic documents proving that their grandparents were in Uganda before February of 1926.
“Nobody has such documents,” Mr Gashumba protests.
Read further: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/people-power/gashumba-we-don-t-have-any-other-home-but-uganda-5576016#story