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The vice president and his wife were yesterday still struggling to get transit visas for the UK.
Sources told The Monitor that Prof. Gilbert Bukenya and Dr Margaret Bukenya had only yesterday afternoon and today morning to get visas to make their trip to Italy in time.
The two are travelling to Italy on Monday aboard British Airways. The couple and their entourage applied for the visas early this week.
Sources say that Bukenya’s problem stems from submitting his passport without a visa for the last destination (Italy).
His wife, on the other hand, was denied the UK visa on grounds that she had not paid the required fee.
The British High Commission denied her the diplomatic privilege of not paying for the visa.
The UK officials argued that because Margaret is merely accompanying her husband, she had to pay the visa fee of Shs 130,000.
However, the British Deputy High Commissioner, Mr Jon Elliott, told The Monitor through an information assistant last evening, that Bukenya was not denied the visa.
Government was also expected to write to the High Commission to explain Uganda’s bilateral arrangement with Italy, which allows holders of diplomatic passports the privilege to get their visas upon arrival in Italy.
Mr Simon Kaheru, the vice president’s publicist, also insisted that his boss had not been denied a visa.
He however conceded that the VP’s wife was asked to pay cash for her visa, “which is a departure from the norm”.
Sources at Parliament said that the Bukenya’s case highlights how shabbily the British High Commission treats Ugandans.
“Do you know that Ugandans begin lining up at 3 a.m. for visas?” one MP who has been to that country said.
“They are made to pay even when they are denied visas. This is unfair and we are going to protest to the high commission.”
An MP who sits on the Presidential and Foreign Affairs committee said that when denied a visa, the UK and US missions continue to stamp in Ugandans’ passports as if they do not know that “these [passports] are [the] property of the Republic of Uganda”.
This is the second time in recent times that a senior government official struggles to get a UK transit visa.
The Attorney General, Mr Francis Ayume, was denied a transit visa recently when he flew to The Hague in Netherlands to represent Uganda at the international court.
He was denied the visa on the grounds that he submitted his application late.
Visa applications are supposed to be submitted at least 48 hours before one’s case can be considered.
Bukenya is scheduled to hold talks with senior Vatican officials, including Pope John Paul II.
Kaheru also said that his boss would meet investors, the director of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and address the annual conference on food security.
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