Joy Ruth Aceng, former Ugandan Ambassador to Canada, has been appointed to head the Ugandan Mission in The Bahamas.
In August of this year, the Canadian government decided to deport Ambassador Joy Ruth Aceng following allegations of a breach of diplomatic norms. She was declared “persona non grata” after being accused of misconduct by the government.
This decision came after she was filmed in an altercation with a group of National Unity Platform (NUP) protesters. Dressed in yellow, the party color of Uganda’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), the envoy exchanged heated words with protesters who were chanting slogans against the Ugandan regime, citing alleged human rights violations.
During the confrontation, Aceng accused the NUP opposition of abducting its own members. Ambassadors and diplomatic envoys are strictly prohibited from engaging in party politics while on their missions to maintain neutrality and uphold the principles of international diplomacy.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations limits the role of diplomats to representing their home country’s interests, fostering good relations, and promoting peace, without influencing the political landscape of either their own country or the host nation.
