President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni has said there is nothing wrong with Uganda including the Indian Community – Bahindi or Bayindi – among the tribes of Uganda.
For years, the Indian Community has been seeking to be officially recognized as a tribe of Uganda.
On December 16, Museveni hosted the ‘Bayindi’ at the sixth State House Diwali Celebrations.
An Indian festival where the spiritual triumph of light over darkness is celebrated, Diwali is marked by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Muslims and some Buddhists, every year.
Museveni noted told the Indians that they were already part of Uganda, and only a constitutional amendment to include them on the country’s official list of tribes was remaining.
“Actually, sociologically speaking, the Indians already have a well-known tribe like the known groups of Bazungu (Whites), Bahalabu (Arabs), Chinese except that it should be considered constitutionally,” said Museveni.
“The Indians are already part of Ugandan society.”
Museveni narrated how he had grown up seeing Indians in the country, and how these should be recognized as a tribe.
“In my village in Ntungamo, when I would be walking to the school and you look inside the four Indian shops that were there, and see the picture of the Aga Khan, we would say ‘that is the king of Indians’, we thought the Aga Khan was the king of all of you fellows. And when the other Aga Khan died in 1958, I think the father of the present Aga Khan, they said ‘the king of the Indians has died,” the president narrated.
“So, sociologically, you already have a tribe here, all we need is to accept the reality and put it in the Constitution.”
Museveni further criticized the Idi Amin regime for expelling Indians and other Asians from Uganda in 1972.
“There was no legitimate reason to expel the Indians,” he said.
“Idi Amin’s act was rubbish.”
