Kadaga to South Sudan: Exempt Ugandans from Aliens Registration Act

The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community (EAC) Affairs, Ms Rebecca Kadaga has called on the Republic of South Sudan to exempt Ugandans from the operation of the Aliens Registration Act since it’s part of the common market protocol which among other things provides free movement of people, labour and service.

“I have an issue with the republic of South Sudan and I’m glad the ambassador is here because I had talked to my colleague Mr Deng to ensure that Ugandans are exempted from the Alien Registration Act. Although we waived the visa, there is still that issue where Ugandans are still treated as aliens,” she said.

Minister Kadaga made the remarks while officiating at the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) phase II building in Kampala on Wednesday.

“If you really ask yourself, how easy is it for a student to move from one country to another to study, how far we have aligned our education systems to build up the regional education system? When I was recently meeting students at Makerere, they told me that in some countries there are some professional courses where only nationals can apply, that is not harmonization,” she said.

Ms Kadaga said there is a need to clear impediments to achieving a common regional higher education area like the delayed subscription to the IUCEA among other things.

However, in his response, the ambassador of South Sudan to Uganda, Mr Simon Juach Deng denied the existence of the alien registration act for Ugandans and students being denied access to South Sudan for education.

“As members of the East African community, we have agreed free movement of people and goods, that’s the baseline. Whatever else is happening in between, we need to find out who is doing it and why it’s happening,” he said.

Mr Deng said both governments will meet to find out where the issue is coming from.

“If it does really happen, it has to cease because that doesn’t encourage the integration agenda that we are talking about. You cannot be saying one thing, we need people, goods to move freely and then, on the other hand, we put impediments. We shall amicably resolve these issues if they are actually existing,” he said.

The executive secretary of IUCEA Prof Gaspard Banyankimbona said the phase II building in its statute and ambience typifies the history of IUCEA of resilience and contribution to the quality of higher education.

“We want this building in many ways to be the home of scholars, researchers and all those passionate about quality higher education in the region,” he said.

Mr Gaspard said the $8.4 million (Shs 30bn) building which is to be constructed on land offered by the government at Kyambogo in Kampala is a protracted journey which will offer the region a common higher education area.