Risdel Kasasira
29 July 2008
Kampala — Junior Internal Affairs Minister Matia Kasaija yesterday told lawmakers that Uganda's religious leaders are holding diplomatic passports illegally.
The religious leaders, Mr Kasaija said, are supposed to carry official passports. "According to the law, they are supposed to carry official passports; green in colour, not diplomatic (red). I don't know how they accessed [diplomatic passports]. I think it could have been a decision by my predecessor," he said.
The Minister was responding to queries by Kasilo MP Elijah Okupa, as to why religious leaders carry diplomatic passports yet they are not diplomats.
Mr Kasaija said the passports were issued long before he joined the Ministry but promised to retrieve them from the men of God.
Religious leaders who hold diplomatic passports include the Archbishop the Church Of Uganda, the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, the Archbishop Of Seventh Day Adventist Church, the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Uganda.
When contacted, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi said; "I can't comment on a matter which I have not heard. I will give a comment later."
However, the Muslim Supreme Council Publicist, Hajji Nsereko Mutumba, defended the religious leaders' right to possess diplomatic passports. "Did they get these passports through the window?
Religious leaders are sacred people. They are bigger than even ministers. They should hold these passports," he said. Mr Kasaija, who was defending his Shs290 billion 2008/9 budget said Ugandan diplomatic passports have been abused by criminals who masquerade as diplomats.
He said officials who are supposed to access diplomatic passports include; government ministers and their spouses, foreign service officers, their spouses and children below the age of 18, the head of public service, the chief justice, justices of the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, chancellors and vice chancellors of public universities, the governor and deputy governor of Bank of Uganda, recognised traditional and cultural leaders, the speaker and deputy speaker of Parliament, permanent secretaries, chairpersons and vice chairpersons of permanent commissions.
A couple of Ugandans travelling on diplomatic passports have been arrested in the UK on criminal charges including money-laundering.
Ms Irene Birungi, a former aide to the State Minister for Micro-finance, Gen. Salim Saleh, was convicted for drug trafficking in the UK. She was travelling with a diplomatic passport. Mr Kasaija said government is planning to recall all diplomatic passports for review and crack down on masqueraders.
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