The Ugandan government has announced plans to roll out a special economic support programme for more than 1,000 Ugandans repatriated from South Africa following recent xenophobic attacks, saying the returnees will be organised into enterprise groups and linked to government financing to help them rebuild their livelihoods.
The intervention targets 1,030 Ugandans currently undergoing rehabilitation and ideological orientation at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi. The group comprises 438 men, 261 women and 331 children who returned after abandoning businesses, jobs and homes in South Africa due to the violence.
Senior Presidential Advisor on Political Mobilisation Moses Byaruhanga said many of the returnees may not qualify for the Parish Development Model because of its eligibility requirements, prompting the government to pursue alternative financing mechanisms tailored to their circumstances.
According to Byaruhanga, the returnees will first be organised into groups based on their skills and planned business activities before receiving seed capital through existing government funding programmes.
He argued that unemployment remains one of the key drivers of xenophobic attacks across Africa and urged African governments to deepen regional economic integration instead of allowing hostility against foreign nationals to undermine trade and investment.
Byaruhanga said Africa’s population of more than 1.4 billion people should be viewed as a single market capable of creating jobs and expanding opportunities across the continent through the free movement of goods, services and people.
The rehabilitation programme, now in its second week, combines patriotism, leadership training and economic empowerment for the returnees, many of whom reportedly arrived traumatised after losing property and livelihoods built over several years in South Africa.
State House Commissioner for the National Secretariat for Patriotism Corps Hellen Seku said participants have shown significant psychological and emotional improvement since joining the programme, adding that many now believe Uganda offers opportunities they had previously overlooked.
Seku also revealed that the programme has attracted interest from hundreds of other Ugandans who returned independently from South Africa and now want to join future training after seeing testimonies shared by participants online.
She said several returnees required specialised medical care on arrival, with some suffering severe psychological distress and others unable to remember even their home districts. Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kiboga Hospital and other health facilities have been supporting their treatment.
To enable parents to fully participate in the training, organisers established a temporary nursery at the institute to care for the hundreds of children who accompanied their families back to Uganda.
Also addressing the returnees, Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) Chairperson Odrek Rwabwogo said Uganda’s long-term economic strategy centres on industrialisation, value addition and expanding exports to create jobs.
Rwabwogo pointed to fish farming as one sector with significant untapped potential, noting that Uganda produces only about 130,000 metric tonnes of fish annually despite its vast freshwater resources, far below what is possible.
He said expanding fish farming, feed production, maize cultivation, soybean growing and agro-processing industries could generate more than 200,000 jobs if properly supported.
The rehabilitation programme is expected to conclude on July 17, with officials saying its success has encouraged more Ugandans still stranded abroad to consider returning home voluntarily.