The first deputy prime minister and minister for East African community affairs, Rebecca Kadaga, has ordered a probe into allegations that customs officials at the Uganda-Rwanda border of Katuna are reportedly charging foreign students a visa fee of $50, which is illegal.
Kadaga issued the order on Thursday during her visit to KIU University, where she was invited by the KIU EAC student body to discuss insights and emerging issues within the EAC family under the theme ‘EAC @25: Developments, Challenges, and Journey Ahead.’
The development stemmed from an open discussion when the president of the South Sudanese Students Association, Nyonyo Paul Baba, reported that some of their students are being charged USD 50 as a foreign student visa fee and wondered when the policy changed.
‘As a South Sudanese student leader, I am humbled to register our protest to the effect that some of our students coming to Uganda for university education studies are being charged a foreign student visa fee of US$50 each, and yet previously we have not been paying it, and we are wondering whether there has been a new policy shift recently.’ lamented Nyonyo.
However, in a swift response, Kadaga explained that the EAC leadership had waived off the foreign student visa fees for all EAC member states students and that she doesn’t expect any customs officer to charge any student given this special policy arrangement’.
‘This is unacceptable because EAC top leadership had passed a policy position effectively waiving off the foreign students visa fee as EAC students community, and whoever does so is doing it outside the law, and I am instructing my officers to immediately take up the matter by identifying the officers for legal action.’ fumed the minister.
Nyonyo had singled out customs officials at the Katuna border, of whom he reportedly implicated in the saga of levying the visa fee, saying the minister must clear the air lest more victims continue being fleeced by the officers due to ignorance of the policy position.
Students also tasked Kadaga to explain why the government has failed to make the teaching of the Kiswahili language among primary and post-primary schools both compulsory and examinable.
She responded that her ministry is at the forefront of ensuring that Kiswahili is taught at all levels, beginning with the cabinet, where lessons are held every week for the ministers, which act signifies her resilient commitment to seeing that all citizens learn the language.
