Abavandimwe Council Endorses Museveni, Hails Executive Order Restoring Banyarwanda Citizenship Rights

By Frank Kamuntu

The Council for Abavandimwe, a civic association championing the rights of Banyarwanda in Uganda, has become one of the first groups to publicly endorse President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for the 2026 general elections.

The endorsement comes just a day after the NRM leadership unveiled the official 2026 campaign portrait of President Museveni, bearing the slogan: “Protecting the Gains as We Make a Qualitative Leap into High Middle-Income Status.”

Speaking in Kampala, Abavandimwe leaders praised Museveni for his recent Executive Order No. 1 of 2025, which restored full citizenship rights to Ugandan-born Banyarwanda who had long been denied national identity documents.

“President Museveni stood with us when others turned away. This is not just an order — it is a declaration of justice, humanity, and statesmanship,” said council leader Frank Gashumba, adding that the directive restored not only IDs and passports but also dignity to thousands of families.

Ending Decades Of Discrimination

For years, the Banyarwanda community has petitioned various government agencies — including Parliament, the Uganda Human Rights Commission, and the Equal Opportunities Commission — over denial of IDs and passports, but without success.

Under Museveni’s directive, the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) has begun issuing IDs, while immigration authorities have been ordered to speed up passport processing. The order also scrapped what were described as “illegal requirements,” such as grandparents’ presence, burial ground photographs, or proof of family settlement before 1926.

Museveni emphasized that “a citizen produces a citizen,” warning against discriminatory practices that had left generations of Banyarwanda stateless in their own country.

Mobilization Ahead of 2026

The council framed Museveni’s intervention as both a constitutional obligation and an act of Pan-Africanism, vowing to rally political support for him in return.

“Citizenship was reaffirmed, discrimination outlawed, and our people who had been treated as strangers in their own country were finally given back not just documents, but their dignity,” the council said in a joint statement.

While the latest census put the Banyarwanda population at 629,672, estimates suggest the community could number more than three million across Uganda. With Museveni’s order, the council said, those voices now stand ready to back his re-election bid.

The Abavandimwe endorsement provides early momentum for Museveni’s 2026 campaign, positioning him as both a guarantor of stability and a defender of marginalized communities.