60 per cent of foreigners in Jinja have national IDs, passports

Jinja.

Sixty per cent of foreigners in Jinja District are in possession of documents that identifies them as citizens of Uganda, rendering them eligible to run retail and other petty businesses they would ideally not have been entitled to, Daily Monitor can reveal.

The government policy, although not being enforced, is that petty businesses or retail trade, in general, is an economic sector that is a preserve of nationals.
According to the just-concluded registration exercise of non-citizens engaging in retail businesses in Jinja, up to 60 per cent of especially the Chinese and Indians nationals are in possession of documents that identify them as Ugandan citizens, hence giving them the privilege to get involved in petty and retail trade.

The findings mean that out of 10 foreigners in Jinja, at least six have a national identity card or are holding a Ugandan passport, and in some cases, are in possession of both the national identity cards and Ugandan passports. This development was confirmed by the district commercial officer, Mr Rogers Kubwooyo, last week.

According to Mr Kubwooyo, who headed the exercise, the registration was done on the orders of the ministry of Trade, following a complaint by the local traders and leaders that foreigners from the aforementioned countries were engaging in economic sectors that should be the preserve of the nationals.

“I wonder how these foreigners acquired our passports and the national identity cards. I suspect some of these documents were fraudulently obtained,’’ he said.

When contacted, the Immigration spokesperson, Mr Jacob Simunyu, said: “I haven’t yet received the report from the relevant authorities that carried out the registration in Jinja. Once we have that information, we will act accordingly and whoever is found culpable will be dealt with as per the law says.”

Speaking to Daily Monitor in an interview last week, the Kampala City Traders Association spokesperson, Mr Issa Sekitto, said within a month, they want foreigners engaged in retail and petty trade deported before they embark on the next course of action.
Earlier in the year about 40 Chinese and Indians were arrested in Jinja Town for staying in the country illegally.

When interviewed recently, the head of inspection and investigations at the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control, Mr Simon Mundeyi, said most of the foreigners come into the country as either tourists, expatriates or wives of those working here or even as dependents before ending up running petty businesses.