Rwanda Finally Declares Missing Ugandan IT Expert ‘Prohibited Immigrant’

Do you remember the Ugandan IT expert, who had been missing for several months and was believed to be in detention in the capital Kigali according to his family and the Ugandan government?

Rwanda has now been declared him an unwanted person in Rwanda and the Kigali government with express orders never to return to Rwanda.

Mr. Egessa, 32, a software engineer, disappeared mysteriously in the Rwandan capital Kigali in December. Sources reported that he was arrested by Rwandan security agencies and taken to an unknown location.

Therefore as a concerned country, Uganda filed a petition to Kigali under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Uganda’s embassy in Kigali.

“My ministry has written to Rwanda’s foreign affairs ministry through our envoy to Rwanda, requesting them to help in identifying where our citizen, who is believed to have disappeared in their country, could be,” Mr. Oryem said.

However, ever since Mr. Egessa’s disappearance in December 2019, the Rwandese government had completely failed to respond to the petition that was filed by the Ugandan government in relation to this case.

Suprisingly, Rwandan Director General of Immigration and Emigration under the National Intelligence and Security Services Mr Francois Regis Gatarayiha on February 13, 2020 issued statement declaring Egessa an unwanted person in Rwanda and shipped him out of the country back to Uganda.

“Take note that you are declared a prohibited immigrant in Rwanda within the meaning of articles 12 and 15 of the law 57/2018 of 13/08/2018 on immigration and emigration in Rwanda,” the Rwandan order reads in part.

This is a little bit confusing because according to sources and family, Mr. Egessa has worked in Rwanda since2015 with organizations that include churches, private companies, and government agencies.

To make the situation worse, the order did not say whether Egessa had been handed over to Uganda or he was still in Rwandan custody.

Written by Erica Nsunjo