By Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Uganda. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreed to facilitate 605 Ugandans who have been staying in the country illegally to return home. The 605 are among 1000 Ugandans who have been detained in Dubai Central Jail and other places for weeks.
Description
Ambassador Henry Mayega, Uganda’s consul general in Dubai, revealed that there are 105 men, 500 women, infants, and pregnant mothers who are due to be flown back. Many were given emergency travel documents at the beginning of this month.
The offer and conditions
After negotiations between UAE and Uganda, the UAE government agreed to offer free air tickets to all illegal migrants to return home on the condition that they surrender to the immigration authorities for security.
First deported groups
According to Mr all pregnant women and women with babies were the first ones to be deported to Uganda. The next group to get the emergency travel documents are the sick. The first group of 29 Ugandans was deported on August 24 and 45 women were last week issued travel documents and deported.
Ugandans working in UAE
There are about 100,000 legal migrants Ugandans living in UAE. Official data from Uganda’s Ministry of Gender indicated that there are 200,000 Ugandans currently employed in the Middle East. Of these, Saudi Arabia is taking the lead with 156,281 Ugandans, with UAE at 20486 and Qatar at 10203 following in that order.
Uganda’s gains from legal migrants
Every year the government of Uganda collects USD1.2 bullion (Shs 4.5 trillion) globally. The Middle East alone sends in USD600 million (Shs2.2 trillion) and USD200 million (Shs762 billion) from UAE.
Labor externalization MoU
The government of Uganda signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UAE government to streamline labor externalization and it will soon be implemented. Uganda is working on tightening controls on the companies that do labor externalization.
Uganda and UAE relationship
The relationship between Uganda and the United Arab Emirates is strong, strategically invaluable, and is developing further. Uganda has signed several agreements with the UAE and others are being negotiated.
The UAE is the most important crossroad country in the Middle East, linking Uganda with the Middle East and the most important hub for transiting to America and Europe, to the West Asia-China, and Japan to the East.
The UAE’s foreign direct investment in Uganda is at 400 million dollars and on an upward trajectory. In 2019 Uganda enjoyed a positive trade balance with export to the UAE at 1.2 billion dollars against 563 million dollars in imports, which shows that the trade relations between the two nations are growing so fast.
In 2020, the Middle East’s total imports were valued at USD819 billion. Uganda contributed exports valued at USD1.9 billion, a 0.23 percent market share.
Unemployment challenge in Uganda
According to the statistical abstract 2018 published by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Uganda had a working population of 15 million people in 2016/2017, up from 14 million in 2012/2013.
The portion of the working females was 51 percent. However, the rate of unemployment, according to www. tradingeconomics. com, increased to 2.10 percent in 2017 from 2 percent in 2016.
The unemployment rate averaged 2.38 percent from 1991 until 2017, reaching an all-time high of 3.50 percent in 2002 and a record low of 0.4 percent in 1991. Uganda’s unemployment rate is increasing year by year. In 2021 it was 2.94 percent, a 0.17 percent increase from 2020.
Youth unemployment- Uganda is facing the challenge of youth unemployment which has led to many youths living in the country searching for greener pastures.
In Uganda more than 75 percent of the population is below 30 years, standing at 13.3 percent, the highest in Sub-Sahara Africa. Faridah N Kulumba, [9/19/2022 2:48 AM]
Every day 100s of Ugandan youth fly to the UAE to search for jobs for survival as the situation back home keeps stiffening.
Even though Uganda collects billions of money from migrant workers but many have lost their lives. From 2019 to date, Uganda has registered 88 deaths of migrant workers, according to the Ministry of Gender.
Saudi Arabia has the highest number at 69. It is followed by the UAE and Jordan with five deaths each, Somalia with three, and Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain with two deaths each.
Uganda’s embassy is currently processing travel and other documents for stranded Ugandans to return home. The embassy is. however, overwhelmed by the huge number of Ugandans thronging the Al Awir immigration office in Dubai to be considered for deportation.
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