Dr Lawrence Muganga, the State Minister for Internal Affairs nominee who Parliament’s Appointments Committee rejected, has explained how he came to hold Ugandan, Rwandan, and Canadian citizenship.
Muganga says he is Ugandan by birth. He was born on 14 February 1976 in Mukono district, and he started school at Kibisi Primary School in 1983. He completed his studies in Uganda and graduated on 5 April 2002.
According to an article by the Daily Monitor, Muganga narrates that after graduation he struggled to find work in Uganda. His sister in Rwanda told him there were opportunities there, so he crossed the border using his Ugandan passport.
In 2003 he got a job as an internal auditor at the Rwanda Revenue Authority and worked there until 2005. That job also opened the door for him to do a Master’s degree in Rwanda.
To live and work legally in Rwanda, he needed local documents. With help from his sister and a local official similar to an LC1, known there as “Nyumba Kumi,” he applied for and received a Rwandan national ID and a Rwandan passport.
Muganga says he took those documents because he was desperate to earn a living and support his family back home.
His career later took him to Canada. When he got opportunities there, he says he had to renounce his Rwandan citizenship to meet Canada’s requirements. That left him with two passports – Ugandan and Canadian. His Ugandan passport is valid until 18 February 2031. His Rwandan passport expired in 2014, and his Canadian passport expired in 2019.
The citizenship issue resurfaced during vetting. Muganga appeared before the Parliament Appointments Committee, chaired by Speaker Jacob Oboth-Oboth, on 2 June.
The committee rejected his nomination, saying he had not provided proof that he had renounced both his Canadian and Rwandan citizenships, as required by the Constitution for that office.
Muganga was unhappy with the committee’s decision. He accused Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa of discriminating against him on ethnic grounds.
