Uganda orders crackdown on citizens crossing into Kenya to register as voters

Uganda’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, said such actions violate Uganda’s laws and sovereignty.

Speaking during a briefing on the state of security in Uganda on Wednesday, Kadaga said Uganda respects Kenya’s sovereignty and expects Nairobi to extend the same respect to Uganda.

“It is not proper and contrary to good and bad, in this for Uganda its institutions to participate in another's electoral process,” Kadaga said.

Kadaga directed security agencies and local leaders along the border to move swiftly to prevent Ugandan citizens from crossing into Kenya to take part in political and electoral activities.

“We are instructing state agencies and local leaders to take up this matter. We should ensure no Ugandan crosses border to Kenya. You can't be a citizen of two countries at the same time,” she noted.

Ugandan authorities have identified several areas along the border that they suspect could be used to facilitate the movement of people into Kenya for electoral activities, including Bukwo, Moroto, Tororo, Namayingo and Buikwe.

The directive comes days after sections of Kenya’s opposition raised concerns over alleged voter importation ahead of the 2027 General Election.

It also comes barely two weeks after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and other Kenya Kwanza leaders, including Kenya’s High Commissioner to Uganda Ababu Namwamba, crossed into Uganda’s Bukwo District, where they campaigned for President William Ruto’s re-election.

Ruto’s allies, however, maintained that the visit was aimed at engaging Kenyans living across the border rather than participating in Uganda’s domestic politics.

Uganda now says its agencies along the border must ensure that its citizens do not participate in Kenya’s electoral process in violation of Ugandan law.