Humanist

It is reported that only 1% of working Ugandans earn one million shillings a month, as in who earn over 12 million shillings annually. Only 1%.

The majority, over 50% of working Ugandans, it is reported, earn in the range of 2.4 million shillings annually. I am thinking of this reality, as I digest reports in the media on the US Visa Bond requirement.

Reports that Ugandans who wish to travel to the US for whatever non-immigration reason must pay a $15,000 (about 56 million shillings) bond, refundable only if they do not violate conditions for the issuance of the visa. 

And that if the visiting Ugandan cannot afford such a bond, which is the majority of us, 99% of us, going by our annual earnings, we are advised to ask our host in the US to pay the bond for us.

By the way, yes, I do not buy the justification for this cruelty – the allegations that the US Visa Bond Policy is premised on Ugandans “misusing non-immigrant visas.” I think the policy is premised on xenophobia more than anything else.

From the perspective of the less advantaged Ugandans, the 99%, access to the US is now for sale and for the rich only? In which regard, the US succeeds in deterring travel to the US by Ugandans, particularly so ‘the poor’ and ‘the needy’.

Things have truly changed. US used to be a significant safe haven for many Ugandans, especially those persecuted for political reasons.

Guess what? Not anymore. “USA ends visas for Uganda political refugees” screamed media headlines a couple of days ago.

What is the logic here?

How is the bond going to stop “misusing of non-immigrant visas?”

Is it not, in fact, an opportunity for those who can afford it to simply pay the bond, get access to the US, do whatever they want to do, including “misusing their visa?” After all, they can afford it. They can afford to forfeit the bond money.

If you think of it, sincerely, what kind of Ugandans have that kind of cash at their easy disposal? 

Who in Uganda has that kind of cash laying around to pay for the US visa bond?

I doubt it is a risk many Ugandans are willing to take. Moreover, increasingly it is a decision many Ugandans are grappling with. Yes, for many their homeland no longer feels like home.

We have just gotten out of a political campaign season and national election that has left many truly scared and uncomfortable. We are truly a nation divided along political party lines, where those who support the ruling party are vilified by those who support opposition parties and vice versa.

I long for the time when it seemed Uganda was turning the corner and the culture was of tolerance of alternative views. When we used to listen in and participate in political debates in the media and did not fear.

I dream for a homeland in which expression of one’s opinion is not the reason you are abducted, held incommunicado, or disappeared entirely.

I dream of a more egalitarian homeland where the divide between the rich and the poor isn’t getting wider each day, materially and also in terms of the manner we are treated.

For me, my dream home cannot be extricated from the wider context of the society and culture in which it is located. It is a home in which I live and feel safe in and within and among my neighbors.