The Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week confirmed the appointment of former State minister for Gender and Culture, Ms Rukia Isanga Nakadama, as the Honorary Consul of Pakistan to Uganda.
When journalists contacted her to find if she had lobbied for the job, Ms Nakadama said she did not have any prior contacts nor engagement with the Pakistani government.
“They called me and told me that they were considering me to be their Honorary Consul and I said yes,” she told a local news daily.
Adding, “All responsibilities come from God, and given my former experience as a public servant I could not turn it down.”
Ms Rukia’s appointment comes on the heels of a heated ‘conflict’ between the Pakistani embassy and renown singer Angela Katatumba, daughter of the late Bonny Katatumba, the former Pakistan Consulate to Uganda.
At the time of his death, Boney Katatumba, according to Angela Katatumba, had encountered a tough relationship with his bosses at the High Commission of Pakistan in Nairobi, which started with his appointment letter.
“When Katatumba was appointed consul and his appointment letter sent to his bosses in Nairobi, the high commission withheld it because they were disgusted about a Christian being appointed,” Angela told ChimpReports.
The singer credited her father’s successful appointment as a representative of Pakistan to Uganda to President Musharaf, who she said had a “powerful” relationship with the dad.
When he passed on, Angela opened up during an interview with a local broadcaster: “I assumed his position at the Afghanistan embassy. I was just acting.”
“I applied at the embassy just like everyone else did but I was told by this particular guy that they didn’t want a Christian occupying that office,” she explained.
Pakistan, according to ChimpReports, has no embassy in Uganda, so the country representative is supervised by the ambassador posted to the High Commission in Nairobi.
The current ambassador of Pakistan to Kenya is Raza Bashir Tarar who according to Angella, was always “fighting my dad.”
While Angela might not be a citizen of Pakistan, Christian monitoring group, World Watch Monitor points to the overwhelming number of Christian communities in the Muslim dominated country facing discrimination in various areas including employment.
The watchdog in 2016 told CNN that Christians are employed as sanitary workers in major cities — as much as 80% in the city of Peshawar. This is not a coincidence, CNN remarked.
Hostility to Christianity in Pakistan has been further aggravated by a growing animosity towards the United States and the West, particularly as a consequence of the war on terror and continued drone strikes in Pakistani territory.
In 2017, Pakistani Christians were angered over a statement by the Chief Minister of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who said that only “non-Muslims” are “recruited as sweepers.” The Chief minister later apologized.
Article 27 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan says, “No citizen otherwise qualified for appointment in the service of Pakistan shall be discriminated against in respect of any such appointment on the ground only of race, religion, caste, sex, residence or place of birth.”
In this country, the High Court ruled that citizens must declare their religion when applying for identity documents, or if they want to work in government or register to vote.
By Staff Writer.
