The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been heavily questioned for the various flaws that exist in the procedure that the ministry follows in issuing diplomatic passports to the various Ugandans that ask to be issued with the passports.

According to the Passport regulations 2004, only Judges of the High Court, Foreign Service Officers, designated religious leaders, gazzeted cultural leaders, ministers and their spouses are entitled to these diplomatic passports.

The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, Nandala Mafabi  has told journalists at Parliament that despite the regulations dictating that only a given group of people are entitled to these diplomatic passports, the ministry has issued such passports to people that do not belong to the above categories including allegations that the Former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, who is not even a citizen of Uganda posses a diplomatic passport.

Is Thaksin Shinawatra holding a Uganda passport?

Committee Member Ntenjeru South MP Tom Kazibwer said they have information indicating Thaksin Shinawatra got a Ugandan passport using other pseudo names, which has brought a lot of complaints from the Thailand government where he is required to serve a two year term over corruption related allegations.

However the Director of Citizenship and Immigration in the ministry of Internal Affairs, Godfrey Wanzira says some of these people that are have these diplomatic passports and do not belong to the categories specified in the law most likely got them before these regulations came in place since before the time of the regulations were enacted the minister then had the discretion to issue diplomatic passports to any Ugandan which is not the case with the regulations.

Wanzira says this possible because a passport is valid for 10 years and yet these regulations were enacted about six years ago which means some people that got these passports over between seven and ten years ago may still posses these diplomatic passports even when they not belong to the categories specified in the law.

The Director says however over next three or so years this problem will be solved given that those with such diplomatic passports and do not belong to the categories specified in the law will expire and no more diplomatic passports will be issued unless issued in line with the regulations.

By Tiberindwa Zacharia, Ultimate Media