Until governments act, Africans will seek Western citizenships

Many years ago, I decided to go out of the country for my graduate education, which lasted about 18 months, after which I came back to Uganda.

Upon my return, I found myself, like most young people, unemployed. I went to visit a family friend whose children live and work outside Uganda. When I was leaving her home, she told me what many people had said about me behind my back, rather than to my face.

Why did I come back? I should have found a way to never return to Uganda and be unemployed. Many people will say, “Oli musiru,” or “You are naïve if you had a chance to run away from Uganda and didn’t take it.”

It isn’t just in Uganda but in many parts of Africa. That is why athletes participating in international sporting events are known to “disappear” into thin air instead of returning once the tournament is over.

They would rather become illegal immigrants doing odd jobs (kyeyo) than returning to the dusty streets of African capitals. Many students at graduate schools never return to the continent.

Some become career students as they search for opportunities to remain in those countries. West Africans would rather die trying to walk the breadth of the Sahara Desert and then jump onto rickety, risky boats to cross into Europe than remaining at home riding boda bodas.

The few times I visit Entebbe airport, the biggest number of departing passengers I see are young women dressed in abayas and hijabs walking in a choreographed pattern on their way to the Arabian desert to do domestic work.

They are thrilled to land a job finally. If you engage many of those returning to Uganda, their ultimate dream is to locate a way to Europe, America, or Canada. People of means have been known to fly their pregnant wives to give birth in America or other developed countries where citizenship is guaranteed upon birth, which the current US president wants to ban.

He also wants to create a system where people who have the money can buy US citizenship or permanent residency. If he did that, many wealthy Africans would pay for it. Already, people in Uganda pay hefty sums to conmen promising them US visas and green cards.

Once, a visa officer at one of the embassies of the Western powers said that many applications arrived with fetishes. That is when paper applications were still the norm.

Once some people got the forms, they took them to their traditional healers for blessings. That is how desperate many people are for Western visas and permits.

Given what people do to get the visas, if the world’s biggest plane arrived at Entebbe airport and said they were taking the first 850 people to arrive in Europe or North America for free and they would be granted citizenship, you would be shocked by who would line up.

There would be chaos as the big people try to jump the queue or have their spouses, children, or grandchildren be the ones to go. That is why there was pandemonium when parliament didn’t approve some people appointed to ministerial positions due to their possessions of dual citizenships.

Many promised to renounce the citizenships of other countries, while another turned to theatrics. I highly doubt many people would renounce their western citizenship to serve as cabinet ministers beyond sending an email to some officers somewhere.

Many ministers and government officials are the ones who largely send their wives and daughters to give birth in America. They encourage their children who they send to the west to study to remain there until they have processed the paperwork that may lead to citizenship or permanent residency.

Publicly, they may renounce their western citizenship and even hire social media influencers to make their case, but deep down, they prefer western passports. That is why they acquired them in the first place.

They know the benefits of Western citizenship. African economies celebrate remittances from their people in the diaspora with fanfare and many are happy to create policies that send their youths to the Gulf States to work even though they sometimes publicly denounce those who seek to go and work there.

Africans primarily pursue Western citizenship for economic reasons. What about creating opportunities and an environment here on the continent? Otherwise, few people would go to great lengths to become Western citizens.

djjuuko@gmail.com

The writer is a communication and visibility consultant.

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