The Pakistani Embassy in Kampala has vehemently denied authorising the issuance of a diplomatic passport to embattled businessman Rugiirwa Katatumba, the son of the former honorary consul of Pakistan in Uganda, the late Bonney Katatumba Mwebesa.
A statement released to address the controversy surrounding the embassy revealed that it has no connections with the businessman who has over the last two months been in the spotlight for flashing a purported diplomatic passport and boasting about its ownership.
Mr Hasnain Zafar, an official from the Pakistani Embassy, clarified in an interview with DailyMonitor that Mr Rugiirwa Katatumba is not a Pakistani citizen and that his government only issues passports to its nationals.
“We do not have the authority to issue passports to Ugandan citizens. The passport in question belongs to the Government of Uganda, not Pakistan. We have no involvement in this matter; it is the Ugandan government’s responsibility to address it,” Mr Zafar said.
Mr. Zafar was responding to a statement by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, who two months ago pointed to the Pakistani Embassy as the authority that could have issued a diplomatic passport to Rugiirwa.
“Maybe it’s Pakistan that gave him that passport. And it should not be a Ugandan diplomatic passport,” Gen. Otafiire said last month.
When contacted, the Ministry Spokesperson, Mr Simon Peter Mundeyi confirmed that immigration authorities have taken necessary action to distance themselves from the diplomatic passport seen on social media.
“It is now up to the police to summon him and have him explain where he got it,” Mr Mundeyi said, referring the issue to the police authorities to investigate the case further
But when contacted over the same, Police spokesperson Rusoke Kituuma said their involvement only occurs when such documents are presented to institutions and are found to be inauthentic.
“Once the concerned authority detects that it is inauthentic or fake, they hand it over to us, and we begin investigations,” said ACP Kituuma.