Museveni Appoints Kasolo Acting Foreign Affairs Minister As Ayebare Swearing-In Remains On Hold

By Swift Reporter

President Yoweri Museveni has appointed Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo as Uganda’s acting minister of foreign affairs, filling a vacancy left open since May because the president’s pick for the permanent post, longtime diplomat Adonia Ayebare, has not yet been sworn in amid questions over his U.S. citizenship.

The Presidential Press Unit said Museveni informed Kasolo of the appointment in a letter dated June 22. “In exercise of the powers vested in the President by article 99 (1) of the Constitution, I hereby appoint you as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in the absence of a substantive Minister,” Museveni wrote. Kasolo currently serves as minister of state for foreign affairs in charge of regional cooperation.

Museveni named Ayebare, Uganda’s permanent representative to the United Nations since 2017, as foreign affairs minister on May 26 as part of a broader Cabinet reshuffle for his 2026-2031 term, replacing Gen. Jeje Odongo in the post. But Ayebare was one of four ministerial nominees who did not attend the Cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony on June 8 at State House Entebbe, after Uganda’s Ministry of Internal Affairs flagged him and three other nominees for holding dual or multiple citizenship.

Ayebare is recorded as holding both Ugandan and U.S. citizenship, which he is reported to have acquired in April 2025. During closed-door vetting before Parliament’s Appointments Committee, he acknowledged the dual status and said he would renounce his American citizenship to comply with Ugandan law, which bars dual citizens from holding certain public offices. The U.S. Embassy in Kampala has since briefed Ugandan officials on the status of Ayebare’s renunciation process, according to local media reports, after he appeared before American officials and waived privacy protections to allow them to discuss his citizenship records directly with the Ugandan government.

The other three nominees caught up in the same review — Calvin Echodu, nominated as minister of state for foreign affairs in charge of international affairs; Shartsi Kutesa Musherure, nominated for microfinance; and Lawrence Muganga, nominated as minister of state for internal affairs — also missed the swearing-in. Uganda’s Appointments Committee has separately declined to approve Muganga’s nomination and referred his case back to Museveni, after immigration records showed he holds Ugandan, Rwandan and Canadian citizenship.

Government officials have said the nominees could still be sworn in once the citizenship questions are resolved and the required documentation is complete, but neither State House nor the Ministry of Public Service has given a timeline for when that might happen.

In the meantime, Kasolo’s appointment allows Uganda’s foreign ministry to operate with ministerial authority while Ayebare’s status remains unsettled. Uganda’s constitution permits the president to name an acting minister under Article 99(1) when a substantive post is vacant.