CANADA – The Canadian government has declared Uganda’s High Commissioner, Joy Ruth Acheng, “persona non grata” for allegedly engaging in “uncouth behaviour”.
“She is going to be deported on August 21, 2024, for uncouth behaviour in Canada,” a highly-placed source within Uganda’s foreign affairs ministry revealed.
Under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which governs how states interact, the host country can “at any time and for any reason” declare a person to be persona non grata – unwelcome in their country.
This development comes just a week after National Unity Platform (NUP) party president Robert Kyagulanyi, took to X, formerly Twitter, and accused Acheng of openly engaging in partisan politics in Canada.
He shared a video, which went viral on social media, in which Acheng appeared to be in an angry exchange with a group of NUP supporters who were allegedly protesting on a street in Toronto, a major Canadian city.
Acheng appeared in an armless yellow dress, wearing dark glasses.
She also had a yet-to-be-identified woman, who was also dressed in yellow, who was using a smartphone camera to shoot footage.
In the video, the ambassador was also seen at one point taking selfies with some NUP supporters who were wearing red outfits such as caps and T-shirts.
The exchange was reportedly sparked off by claims that Achileo Kivumbi, the head of security at the NUP headquarters in Kampala, had been abducted by security operatives near his home in Nansana, Wakiso district.
Kivumbi was later arraigned in the General Court Martial in Kampala on August 5 and charged with possession of military wear of a lieutenant colonel. He was remanded to Luzira Prison until September 2, 2024.
“The problem is that you abduct yourselves. You people, stop abducting yourselves and killing yourselves, saying it is [President Yoweri] Museveni,” Acheng, a former Kole Woman MP on the Uganda People’s Congress party ticket, was heard telling NUP supporters in the video.
She was also heard threatening to call the Police to “kick you (NUP supporters) out of this place”.
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