The government has reaffirmed its commitment to provide Shs 2 billion to Ugandans who returned from South Africa following the xenophobic attacks that happened earlier this year.
The money is expected to cushion the Ugandans who lost their source of livelihood when they left South Africa. President Yoweri Museveni pledged Shs 2bn to a new Sacco that the returnees were urged to form as a financial buffer.
While addressing the South Africa returnees last week, Dickson Ogwang Okul, the foreign service officer at the ministry of Foreign Affairs, urged the recipients of the money to put it to good use.
Ogwang was speaking at the financial literacy graduation organised by Enterprise Uganda in partnership with Equity Bank Uganda following a two-day training that brought together returnees who were equipped with financial management and entrepreneurship skills to help them establish businesses and manage their finances.
He also said that government was working to facilitate the safe return of the remaining 700 Ugandans who are still in South Africa.
“Government has found a way of working with Uganda Airlines whereby the empty seats that remain unbought in Uganda Airlines are being used to bring our people until all of them are brought back safely,” he said.
Mathias Baguma, the chairman of the South Africa returnees, said the returnees still needed more assistance, stating that most of them are still struggling to rebuild their lives in Uganda after many years away.
“None of us has repatriated anything. Everything that we owned was left there and none of us was compensated,” he said.
Speaking about the training, Baguma said the returnees had learned that business growth required the right mindset and an understanding of how to manage available resources. Bob Paul Lusembo, the head of microbusiness at Equity Bank, said the bank was committed to providing financial assistance to the returnees through affordable loans.
Charles Ocici, the director general of Enterprise Uganda, said the returnees required specialised business support because many of them had established enterprises in South Africa but returned without local business records, property or collateral to help them secure credit.
“They have no track record. Nobody can lend them money. They have no land securities, they didn’t invest in properties in this country,” Ocici said.
He said Enterprise Uganda’s role was to help the returnees rebuild their confidence, identify business opportunities and apply the entrepreneurial experience they had gained abroad to their new circumstances in Uganda.