Ugandans in China refuse to come back home

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said Ugandans in China, who had earlier asked to be returned home due to Covid-19-related distress, have refused to come back.
In a statement issued yesterday by Mr Henry Okello Oryem, the State minister for Foreign Affairs, Ugandans in China are not among the 2,392 persons on the ministry’s list of potential returnees.

Government on Tuesday received 34 Ugandans from Sudan and another 16 who got stranded in Belgium and the Netherlands following the lockdown on the country on March 23, that saw the country’s borders closed to passengers.
In an interview with Daily Monitor yesterday, Mr Oryem attributed the “change of mind” to the wellbeing of Ugandans living in China.
The minister said no Ugandan who had travelled abroad to look for better life wishes to return to poverty [in Uganda] from which they ran away.
“Even if they (Ugandans abroad) come back, they will come into poverty. And if they come back, no one will welcome them back into their homes and they will also have nothing to do,” Mr Oryem said.

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The minister added:

“These Ugandans in the beginning wanted to come back because the Chinese were mistreating them but once [Foreign Affairs] Minister Sam Kuteesa met the Chinese Ambassador and sorted out the issues, they didn’t want to come back.”
Mr Oryem said when the Ugandans in China realised the Covid-19 situation was changing, they decided not to come back.
“Most of the people who are returning are those who had gone for business or students who finished their studies,” he said.
There are close to 50,000 illegal Ugandans abroad and most of them are in China, according to minister Oryem.

He said there are currently more job opportunities in the foreign countries since many people left their jobs for fear of the pandemic.
“Those who are staying in Dubai [United Arab Emirates] are saying most people who were working left and so there are many jobs and they are calling their relatives to go and work,” Mr Oryem said.
The minister revealed that of the 6,000 Ugandans in the UAE, who wanted to return, only 167 have registered to come back.
According to the standard guidelines from the Ministry of Health, returnees are required to undertake a PCR test for Covid-19 from their country of origin and be ready to go into a mandatory 14-day quarantine at their own cost on arrival.