An official at Namibia’s Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security has explained how the presence of Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, the king of Uganda’s Buganda Kingdom, put Windhoek’s image and security on the line.
Etienne Maritz, the executive director at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security, has noted that the Kabaka was only granted 90 days of stay in the country as per section 29 of the Immigration Control Act of 1993, having arrived in Namibia on a private medical visit on April 14, 2024.
Maritz explained that Namibia found at the centre of the controversy on the Kabaka’s whereabouts, thrusting Windhoek’s reputation into bad light as subjects in Buganda demanded that their king be released.
“Whilst the visit of His Royal Highness Muetebi II was purely private, it generated much controversy with some of his subjects, who seem not to have been briefed about the travels of His Royal Highness,” wrote Executive Director Maritz.
“Subsequently, those subjects then started making allegations that His Royal Highness was being detained in Namibia, that the Namibian government conspired with the Ugandan authorities in abducting His Royal Highness, and that demanded his unconditional release from detention in Namibia.”
The Namibian official notes that the diplomatic situation would later worsen after some ‘unscrupulous subjects’ began holding protests at Namibia’s diplomatic missions across the world with the sole intention of compelling Windhoek to release the Kabaka from alleged detention.
The demos, Maritz further explained, served the purpose of “threatening the security of Namibian diplomatic officials,” and that they “interfered greatly with the operations and security of Namibia’s diplomatic missions.”
The Namibian government has also noted that the allegations that Windhoek had detained the Kabaka were “malicious,” intended “to tarnish Namibia’s respected reputation and standing in the eyes of the international community” and to “undermine the good bilateral relations that exist between the two countries.”
According to Executive Director Maritz, while Windhoek raised the matter with Kampala and the Royal Family to rein in the ‘unscrupulous subjects’ spreading malicious allegations, both didn’t take action. And with both Museveni’s government and the Royal Family failing or doing little to call some subjects of the Kabaka to order, “their disruptive activities continued unabated.”
It was against this background that Namibia’s government refused to extend the Kabaka’s visa, afterall “Namibia is a sovereign nation, and has the right to implement the laws of the Republic Namibia, and international law.”
As we reported days ago, Namibia declined to grant a request for the extension of the Kabaka’s visa after the king spent three months receiving treatment at a mental hospital.
Before it emerged that the Kabaka’s visa extension request had been declined, the Kabaka spoke out on his health and on his return to his kingdom in Uganda. (See related reporting Here and There).
Some of the king’s subjects that put Buganda and Uganda in the spotlight were the abataka (clan chiefs) who flew to Namibia to see the Kabaka in hospital but were arrested and detained. President Yoweri Museveni rebuked the bataka for embarrassing Uganda abroad over the Kabaka. (See Details Here).
