The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security says supporters of the king of Buganda, Ronald Mutebi II, have caused disruptions by falsely claiming the Ugandan king was unlawfully detained in Namibia and staging protests at Namibian diplomatic missions.
Mutebi (69) has reportedly been receiving treatment for an undisclosed condition at a medical facility in the Outjo area since 14 April.
The government this week rejected a request for an extension of Mutebi’s visa after he stayed in the country for 90 days.
Home affairs executive director Etienne Maritz said in a media statement on Friday that while the visit of Mutebi was “purely private”, it generated controversy with some of his subjects, who seem not to have been briefed about his travel plans.
“Subsequently, those subjects then started making allegations that [Mutebi] was being illegally detained in Namibia and that the Namibian government conspired with the Ugandan authorities in abducting his royal highness, and thus demanded his unconditional release from detention in Namibia,” Maritiz said.
He added: “Some of the unscrupulous subjects of the Buganda Kingdom started organising and having demonstrations at Namibia’s diplomatic missions around the world, demanding for Namibia to release their king from detention and thereby threatening the security of Namibian diplomatic officials in the process, which is not allowed under international law.”
Maritz said this put the security of Namibian representatives abroad at risk and interfered “greatly” with the operations and security of the country’s diplomatic missions.
“Such malicious allegations were not only meant to tarnish Namibia’s respected reputation and standing in the eyes of the international community, but were also meant to undermine the good bilateral relations that exist between the two countries,” he said.
According to Maritz, the government explained that the Bugandan king’s presence in Namibia was private, and did not intend to interfere with his medical visit.
Maritz added: “Namibia engaged the Ugandan authorities as well as the royal family, and expected them to call these unscrupulous elements to order. Nevertheless, their disruptive activities continued unabated.”
With that background, Namibia’s government was unable to extend the king’s visa, Maritz said
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