Museveni assures multi-racial community of citizenship

President Yoweri Museveni has assured the multi-racial community living in the country of their rights to become citizens of Uganda either by descent or by naturalisation.

He told the community that he is happy to see them as a tribe in the country.

"I am very happy to see this tribe and this is your home. I am glad you told me these issues. From a biological point of view, you're local people in Uganda. This is your country," he said.

Museveni was speaking to members of the multi-racial community who are living in Uganda during a meeting that took place at the International University of East Africa (IUEA) along the Kampala - Gaba Road.

He noted that the 1995 Constitution allows a person who has lived in Uganda for a number of years to apply for citizenship saying that nobody, including the government, can object to the application. He informed the meeting that Uganda has been building its population by absorbing people.

Museveni promised to follow up on the issues they had presented to him with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He pledged government support towards some of the group's planned projects, especially sewerage treatment, among others, in order to clean up the City.

He assured them that they will be no violence during the upcoming 2016 General Elections.

The Chairman of the multi-racial community, Yassin Omara, told the President that they have been accepted in Uganda under the NRM leadership although they still face a number of challenges such as national identity cards being denied to them, Ugandan passports are denied them as officials deem them as non-Ugandans.

He reported that they were born in Uganda and have lived in the country all their lives but feel rejected when they are denied access to some documents.

The group assured Museveni of their total support and victory in the upcoming polls.