Rival Banyarwanda group rejects proposal for name change to Bavandimwe

By Juliet Nalwooga

The leadership of the Ugandan Banyarwanda Cultural Development Association (UMUBANO) has rejected recent calls by another group to rename Banyarwanda “Abavandimwe”.

Addressing journalists in Kampala this morning, the UMUBANO acting chairperson Frank Rusangawa said the group that calls  itself the Council for Bavandimwe that has since March 15th 2021 embarked on a name-change campaign is not part of or delegated by them.

Rusangawa says the uninformed proposal to rename Banyarwanda in Uganda will have the negative effect demeaning and humiliating the Ugandan Banywarwanda as a people.

The Abavandimwe council last week sought to rename their tribe on grounds that they are being segregated especially when trying to acquire documents like passports and National Identity Cards.  

The Banyarwanda are an indigenous community in Uganda formed out of the 1926 colonial territorial designs and are listed as such in the 1995 constitution.

Written by Noelyn Nassuuna