Dear Stakeholders
By mid-day this Friday, there were no signs that the Passport office in the ministry of internal affairs would really issue a Ugandan passport to the Sweden based Cranes player, Kayongo Mutumba Martin!
The federation submitted all the necessary documents to the concerned offices early February and the file was shortly forwarded to the legal department where it has remained to-date. Among the documents we were required to submit included proof from Martin’s parents indicating that they had Ugandan roots.
Kayongo Mutumba Joseph, the biological father to Martin availed us with his baptism certificate and his Advanced School level certificate from St. Henry’s College Kitovu as part of the proof among other documents. The baptism certificate shows that Mutumba’s father was baptized from Kitovu on February 22, 1952 by Rev. Fr. Leonard Lule and issued a card No. 2378. All these copies were attached.
FUFA invited Mutumba to Uganda and in company of his real mother Mary Kayongo Mutumba, he was physically presented to the passport offices and submitted a hand written application requesting to be allowed receive a Ugandan passport and play for his country. He also filled forms ‘A’, ‘AA’ and ‘B’ as required by the Uganda citizenship and immigration control Act 3 -1999 on top of taking the oath of allegiance before the commissioner for oath.
The Swedish Ambassador in Uganda verified Martin’s passport and clarified that duo citizenship was acceptable in Sweden. He was later taken for medical examinations to check on his mental stability.
The Federation was later asked to produce a criminal record clearance from Interpol in Sweden which was done and taken to Makerere institute of Languages for interpretation since it was in Swedish language. The player was found to have committed no crimes that bar him from acquiring duo citizenship.
We were assured that what had remained was the board to sit and decide whether Martin really deserved a dual citizenship. I have since kept checking on this file almost daily and engaged different personalities including sports minister Charles Bakabulindi who has offered some help. To my surprise, this Friday February 24 it was discovered that nothing much had been done on the file and it remained on a desk of one of the officers unattended to.
In the presence of the NCS General Secretary Jasper Aligawesa, Mutumba’s file was today retrieved from this officer’s fully packed desk with indications that we needed to provide more documents linking Martin to his parents. By the time of receiving this new instruction for another requirement, Mutumba was already on his way to Entebbe.
I have however communicated the developments to Martin’s parents in Sweden and an effort is being made to have them swear an affidavit before a honorable court proving that they are the rightful parents of Martin. I am in touch with them and I am yet to receive that document. It’s however notable that the team will leave on Monday morning and the passport offices don’t work over the weekend.
As an officer assigned to work on this particular case I have found it necessary to give you these updates as I continue pushing for this document.
The struggle continues!
ROGERS MULINDWA
HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS
Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA)
