NIRA Expo a centenary celebration of Uganda's nationhood — Prof. Mwambutsya
In an interview with the New Vision ahead of the NIRA Expo on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Mwambutsya said Uganda's journey has been characterised by ups and downs, arguing that the national citizenship question, which currently focuses on NIRA registration, needs to be revisited.
Prof. Ndebesa Mwambutsya addressing Ugandans on NIRA centenary celebrations. (Photo by Isaac Nuwagaba)
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For about 40 years after Uganda was declared a British Protectorate in 1894 and its international boundaries were gazetted in 1926, parts of what is now Uganda were carved in and out of territories that became Kenya, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.
With the coming into force of the 1995 Constitution, which originally recognised 56 indigenous communities and tribes, the official schedule has since expanded to 65 communities existing as of February 1, 1926.
According to Prof. Ndebesa Mwambutsya, a retired history lecturer at Makerere University and senior citizen, the upcoming NIRA Expo offers Ugandans an opportunity to reflect on the centenary of a country that has transformed from settlements to chiefdoms, kingdoms and eventually the birth of the nation in 1962, when Uganda gained independence.
“Without challenges witnessed, we would not be in a position to suggest that Uganda now needs to seriously think about forging a national identity which puts all tribes into one community in the third issue of our constitution with justice, rule of law and democracy as our identity,” Mwambutsya said.
In an interview with the New Vision ahead of the NIRA Expo on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Mwambutsya said Uganda's journey has been characterised by ups and downs, arguing that the national citizenship question, which currently focuses on NIRA registration, needs to be revisited.
“One can be a Ugandan by birth, registration and/or naturalisation. Many people were born in Uganda, but the ancestry does not protect them to fully enjoy citizenship by birth because their ancestry does not trace roots among the communities captured by 1926 records when Uganda attained conclusive international boundary demarcations,” he observed.
A chance to set the record straight
Prof. Mwambutsya said the NIRA Expo and the ongoing national registration and renewal exercise present a historic opportunity for Ugandans to put their records in order and answer future questions about citizenship.
“This is the only opportunity Ugandans should use to put their records clear to answer future questions because Uganda is transforming to the digital world where issues of doubts will be erased forever,” he emphasised.
He warned that countries which have not answered the national identity question have failed to develop.
“Countries which have not answered the national identity question have not developed. National identity is key to stability, economic progress and future integration of the East African Community (EAC),” he warned.
Drawing lessons from Southeast Asia, Mwambutsya said countries such as Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia had addressed questions of identity and quickly transformed to middle-income status, while Uganda continued to face challenges in which communities had struggled to live together in the same districts.
He said the identity crisis manifests itself daily in Uganda's administrative and social life.
“That's why districts are splitting every other day. Using religion as a case study, the Anglican Church communities do not want to belong to the same dioceses and are splitting the Church of Uganda to form new administrative units. All these arise out of the national identity crisis,” he said.
Need for national integrity policy
Prof. Mwambutsya believes NIRA should use the Expo and its database to help shape a broader national policy for cohesion.
“I believe that NIRA shall use this opportunity to gather our data and use it to create a national integrity policy to shape constitutional patriotism around equality, rule of law, social justice and working for the public good with the national consciousness at the foundation base of our nation,” he advised.
Since independence in 1962, he noted, different governments have tried to resolve the national question through different approaches and proposals but have failed to contain the challenge.
From Obote to Amin to NRM: Attempts to forge nationhood
Tracing Uganda's post-independence history, Mwambutsya said successive governments attempted different approaches to forging a national identity.
“In 1967, President Milton Obote, under the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) party, abolished traditional Kingdoms to create a national identity without ethnic nationalities,” he analysed.
He said in 1969, Obote came up with the One-Plus-Three (1+3) electoral system to allow Members of Parliament to be voted for by their constituencies of origin and three other regions, creating a system in which leaders would share a national outlook. However, the system was never implemented before Obote was toppled.
In 1971, President Amin Dada abolished political parties and the constitution in an attempt to create a united Uganda, which failed, Mwambutsya noted.
“Lule came up with different districts named after ethnic groups like Acholi district, Ankole district, Teso district, Karamoja district, which failed before renaming them as towns,” he said.
Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa was appointed Lule's successor on June 20, 1979, but his programme of creating a political umbrella to unite all Ugandans did not succeed.
The historian explained that de facto President Paul Muwanga replaced Binaisa as head of state after the army removed him from power on May 12, 1980, under the Military Commission arrangement, paving the way for the return of Obote.
With the coming of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government under President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Movement system was introduced as a non-party system that sought to reduce the role of political parties in national politics, Mwambutsya said.
Kyankwanzi and search for national conscience
According to Mwambutsya, the NRM later introduced Kyankwanzi, which started the patriotism movement to build national consciousness, while civil society proposed national dialogue and reconciliation to create nationhood and address the challenges of resource sharing and income inequalities among regions.
“Now came the creation of Kyankwanzi that started the patriotism movement to gain the national conscience, with civil society suggesting national dialogue and reconciliation to create nationhood and address the existential threat of resource sharing and income inequalities among the regions,” he said.
He said the various attempts show that Uganda has been struggling to answer three fundamental questions: Who is a Ugandan? How do we live together as equals? And how do we share national resources fairly?
NIRA Expo: More than registration
Prof. Mwambutsya said the NIRA Expo should therefore not be seen as merely a registration event, but as a centenary moment for Uganda to reflect on its journey from 1894, through the 1926 boundary finalisation, to independence in 1962 and now the digital era.
He said the introduction of digital identification gives Uganda the technological capacity to create a definitive and verifiable national register that could help address questions surrounding citizenship and the exclusion of communities whose ancestry falls outside the 1926 cut-off but whose members have lived in Uganda for generations.
The Expo, organised by the National Identification and Registration Authority, is expected to bring together Government, academia, cultural institutions, the private sector and citizens to showcase how national identification underpins service delivery, security, financial inclusion and regional integration.
“NIRA should lead us into constitutional patriotism. Not patriotism built on tribe, but built on justice, rule of law, democracy, equality and service to the public good. That is the identity that will keep Uganda stable for the next 100 years,” Mwambutsya said.