Do you disregard Prof Yash Tendon's apprehension: "What we do best, we are exporting our people," ?
I have never believed this 'selling of one's kidney' to get rich.
Secondly when the literate and vocal leave the country, it is the best thing for thugs like m7 who then have fewer people around to call their bluff. m7 would love us to go away even if we don't remitt a cent. In fact I dont even trust the $ 661 million figure.
Forget Cyril Ramaphosa. Let him first come clean on the killing of Chris Hani.
Mitayo Potosi
From: Omar Kezimbira <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ugnet_: The Diaspora Abroad Earned Uganda $ 661 million Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 12:47:20 -0700 (PDT)
Netters,
It is now an open secret that Ugandans abroad have overtaken coffee as the top most component in earning Uganda the most needed foreign exchange. The figure of $ 661 million was recited by President Museveni on Independence day and is now a term of reference by the Ministry of finance as compared to $475 million from total exports from coffee, fish etc...
This in effect implies that the Uganda diaspora abroad ranks as the most powerful in financial terms. The Jewish Lobby in the United States derive their power from their financial influence and one only wished that Ugandans abroad became united as one entity.
Never mind the doped negative tag of 'nkuba kyeyo' by the Uganda media, what is important is to realise that your had earned penny that you keep wiring to Uganda is a vital contribution in shaping Uganda's economy and politics.
Can Ugandans abroad transform themselves into a powerful lobby with one voice?
Omar Kezimbira ----------------------------------------------------------------
Nkuba Kyeyo set terms for return By Badru D. Mulumba Oct 16, 2003 - Monitor
KAMPALA - Africans working abroad say they could return to rebuild the continent but want to be assured of the rule of law.
The Africans working outside the continent, commonly called Nkuba Kyeyos (Sweepers) in Uganda expressed their views at a meeting in London, former secretary general of the African National Congress, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa told the 12 Joseph Mubiru memorial lecture last week.
He said that 5,000 of them attended the meeting.
"The consensus was that many would return if only there was a conducive climate to come back, ...levels of security and that rule of law prevailed," Ramaphosa told the audience at the International Conference Centre in Kampala.
He did not say when the conference occurred. For Uganda, Kyeyo brings in more money than total exports. Last financial year, the country earned $661 million from Nkuba Kyeyo compared to $475 million from exports, according to ministry of finance figures.
Coffee, for long the largest export earner, fetched just about $129.4 million down from over $600 million 13 years ago.
Fish, the second largest export earner, fetched the country $87.9 million.
The lecture was in memory of former Bank of Uganda governor, Joseph Mubiru, murdered during Idi Amin's regime. It is organised by the central bank on October 8 every year.
Kampala Mayor, Mr John Sebaana Kizito, chaired the lecture held under the theme: A better Africa in a fairer world.
Discussing Ramaphosa's paper, Prof. Yash Tandon, director of Southern and Eastern Africa Trade and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) said globalisation has destroyed Africa's exports.
Consequently, the continent has been left with no option but to export its skills.
"What we do best, we are exporting our people," he said.
"Simultaneously we will face de-industrialisation, de-agriculturalisation and depopulation soon. That is what globalisation is doing to us."
He said that Africa could kiss good-bye to the notion of free trade because global trade is manipulated.
"It is totally unfair. World Trade Organisation has become an anarchical society. And they make rules of the jungle," he said.
"But those without resources like Africa are a little more than hapless bystanders in the relentless search for wealth by the rich," he said.
While 340 million Africans live at below a dollar a day, Ramaphosa said, Aids and civil unrest are deepening the vulnerability of the poor.
He said Africa needs stability to attract investment the same way it needs it to attract Nkuba Kyeyo back.
One way Africa might achieve this, Ramaphosa said, is through the New Partnership for Africa's Development that seeks peer review, rule of law, fighting corruption, stability, and getting skilled manpower.
"We must collectively seek to promote and stem the flow of skilled people from the continent and to attract back skilled people," Ramaphosa said.
"Those in the Diaspora should be convinced to come back. The challenge is to ensure that through the things that we do, the actions that we take, we are able to attract those skills back to Africa," he said.
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
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