Tajuan v Attorney General (Miscellaneous Cause 48 of 2023)
Observed later treatment
No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.
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Holding
Held that being born in Uganda alone does not confer citizenship by birth under Article 10 of the Constitution. The applicant's mother and grandmother are both American citizens and the father was listed as unknown on the birth certificate. Affidavit evidence asserting that a Ugandan named Adrian Nyanzi is the father, without supporting statutory declaration or other corroboration, is insufficient to ground a citizenship declaration. The court cannot apply the 1961 Convention on Reduction of Statelessness as Uganda has not ratified it. The applicant does not qualify as a foundling under Article 11(1). Application dismissed with direction to trace the father and rectify the birth certificate.
Outcome
Application dismissed with directions to trace the father and rectify the birth certificate before reapplying for a passport
Facts
Merissa Tajuan Leeanne Robinson was born on 23 September 2021 at Our Lady Consolata Kisubi Hospital and named Adriana Anderson Nanyanzi at birth. Her biological mother is Alynna Leeanne Robinson, an American citizen adopted in the United States in 2012 by Sandles-Chambers Meritta Tajuan, also an American citizen. The birth certificate listed the father as unknown. In 2022, Sandles-Chambers Meritta Tajuan obtained a custody order for the child and applied for a Ugandan passport, which was refused because both mother and grandmother are American citizens and the father was unknown. The mother later stated that the father is Adrian Nyanzi, a Ugandan, but he could not be located. The applicant could not obtain American citizenship because the mother had not resided in the United States for five years prior to the child's birth. The application sought a declaration of Ugandan citizenship on the basis that the child would otherwise be stateless.
Issues
- Whether the applicant is entitled to Ugandan citizenship and a Ugandan passport.
Orders
- Application disallowed.
- Sandles-Chambers Meritta Tajuan and Alynna Leeanne Robinson (grandmother and mother of the applicant, respectively) shall consider notifying Adrian Nyanzi by notice in a newspaper with wide circulation that he should avail himself for purposes of rectifying his particulars in the applicant's birth certificate.
- An application for a Ugandan passport may subsequently be processed with the correct particulars of the father of the applicant.
Rules and key headnotes
Legislation cited (18)
- Constitution of Uganda Article 10
- Constitution of Uganda Article 11(1)
- Constitution of Uganda Article 29(2)(b)
- Constitution of Uganda Article 29(2)(c)
- Constitution of Uganda Article 34(7)
- Constitution of Uganda Article 1
- Civil Procedure Act s.98
- Judicature Act s.24
- Judicature Act s.33
- Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act Cap. 66 s.12
- 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness Article 1
- 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons Article 1
- 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons Article 5
- 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons Article 7
- 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties Article 2
- 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties Article 15
- 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties Article 16
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 15
Full judgment
The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.