President Yoweri Museveni has come under fresh scrutiny after remarks questioning why Ugandans travel to Dubai for work, describing the Gulf city as a harsh desert environment and suggesting that those who take up low-wage jobs there may be influenced by what he termed an “inferiority complex.”
The comments, delivered during the State of the Nation Address, have triggered renewed debate on labour migration, unemployment, and wage disparities across East Africa and the Gulf region.
Veteran journalist Charles Onyango-Obbo has weighed in on the discussion, arguing that the issue cannot be reduced to questions of national pride or perception.
Instead, he frames it as an economic decision shaped by the gap between local earnings and overseas wages.
Museveni’s critique focused on the social psychology of migration, suggesting that Ugandans should prioritize opportunities at home rather than seeking work in foreign environments he portrayed as difficult and extreme.
His remarks were widely shared and debated, with supporters saying he was encouraging self-reliance, while critics accused him of ignoring structural unemployment and low wages.
In his commentary, Onyango-Obbo said the debate risks missing the core driver of migration: income differences between Uganda and destination countries.
He emphasized that many workers are making rational economic choices rather than emotional or status-driven decisions.
“There are grand political arguments one can make, but someone wisely suspected it had more to do with the pay,” he noted, framing the discussion around wages rather than perception.
He added that the focus should shift toward the economic structures that push young people to seek opportunities abroad.
“We went looking for the dry differences in the salaries of some of the ‘lower jobs’ Ugandans go to Dubai to work, and what they would have earned at home,” he observed, pointing to the need for comparative wage analysis.
Onyango-Obbo argues that many of the jobs Ugandans take in Dubai—such as domestic work, security roles, cleaning services, and hospitality entry positions—tend to pay significantly more than equivalent or similar work at home.
While conditions vary, the earnings abroad are often several times higher than what workers would receive in Uganda for comparable labour, even after accounting for living costs and recruitment expenses.
This wage gap, he suggests, remains the central factor sustaining migration flows. He maintains that moral framing alone does not address the underlying economic incentives shaping these decisions.
The debate now highlights a broader regional challenge: balancing national development narratives with the lived economic realities of young job seekers.