KAMPALA, Uganda — President Yoweri Museveni has named Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo as Uganda’s acting minister of foreign affairs, stepping in for a ministry that has been without a substantive head since May because of an unresolved citizenship dispute involving Museveni’s chosen permanent minister, veteran diplomat Adonia Ayebare.
The Presidential Press Unit said Museveni notified Kasolo of the appointment in a letter dated June 22. “In exercise of the powers vested in the President by article 99 (1) of the Constitution, I hereby appoint you as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in the absence of a substantive Minister,” Museveni wrote. Kasolo currently serves as minister of state for foreign affairs in charge of regional cooperation.
The acting appointment fills a gap created by Museveni’s own Cabinet reshuffle. On May 26, the president named Ayebare — Uganda’s permanent representative to the United Nations since 2017 — as foreign affairs minister for his 2026-2031 term, replacing Gen. Jeje Odongo. But Ayebare never took office. He was one of four ministerial nominees who did not attend the Cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony on June 8 at State House Entebbe, after Uganda’s Ministry of Internal Affairs flagged him for holding dual citizenship.
Ayebare is recorded as holding both Ugandan and U.S. citizenship, reportedly acquired in April 2025. Uganda’s constitution bars dual citizens from holding certain public offices unless they renounce their other nationality. During closed-door vetting before Parliament’s Appointments Committee, Ayebare acknowledged his dual status and said he would give up his American citizenship to comply with the law. Since then, the U.S. Embassy in Kampala has briefed Ugandan officials on the status of that renunciation process, according to local media reports, after Ayebare appeared before American officials and waived privacy protections allowing them to discuss his citizenship records directly with the Ugandan government.
Three other nominees were caught in the same citizenship review and also missed the swearing-in: Calvin Echodu, nominated as minister of state for foreign affairs in charge of international affairs; Shartsi Kutesa Musherure, nominated for microfinance; and Lawrence Muganga, nominated as minister of state for internal affairs. Muganga’s case has gone further off track than the others — Uganda’s Appointments Committee declined to approve his nomination outright and referred it back to Museveni, after immigration records showed he holds Ugandan, Rwandan and Canadian citizenship.
Government officials have said all four nominees could still be sworn in once their citizenship questions are resolved and documentation is complete, but more than a month after their nominations, neither State House nor the Ministry of Public Service has set a timeline for that to happen.
Until then, Kasolo’s appointment gives Uganda’s foreign ministry a minister with full constitutional authority to act, even as the standoff over who will lead it permanently drags on.
