Rugiirwa Katatumba, a man in the eye-of-storm on allegations he is carrying a diplomatic passport, might just be a show-off.
The ministry of internal affairs has confirmed that a man who claims to have a diplomatic passport and a son of the late former Pakistan Consul in Uganda, only has an ordinary passport.
The ministry is under pressure to reign in individuals who are beating the system to acquire diplomatic passports.
In one of the drunken nights, Mr Rugiirwa Katatumba is said to have flashed out a red passport. The action raised a public outcry as the image and credibility of the Ugandan travel document is said to suffer international reputation as unfit individuals run around with red passports only meant for very important persons in the country. The president, Speaker of Parliament, Chief Justice, ministers, chancellors, Central bank governor were among the few who qualify for this document to easy their travel abroad.
According to the Internal Affairs ministry’s spokesman, the man in the eye of the storm for holding a diplomatic passport, Mr Rugiirwa Katatumba, has not honoured the summons issued by the ministry.
Mr Simon Mundeyi said Rugiirwa has not complied yet with the summons.
“We want him to come and explain whose diplomatic passport he was holding. We want to inform the public that not every Ugandan is entitled to acquiring a diplomatic passport,” Mundeyi said.
Mundeyi explained: “We have never issued a diplomatic passport to Rugiirwa Katatumba. On April 10, 2021 he applied for an ordinary passport which he received in November 2021. It expires in 2031. We want him to explain how he got the diplomatic passport he claims to have.”
This is the second time internal affairs has summoned Mr Katatumba but he has yet to respond. Last year, the directorate of Citizenship and Immigrations Control cancelled 288 applications for diplomatic passports due to ineligibility.
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