Businessman and conservationist Amos Wekesa has shared a deeply emotional account of witnessing the deportation of a young Ugandan woman, using the experience to highlight the growing hardships Africans face abroad and the urgent need for opportunity creation at home.
In a statement shared on X, Wekesa recounted watching as the distraught woman was forcibly escorted onto a plane by several security personnel, crying out that she was being separated from her child.
“The cry could make anybody shed a tear,” Wekesa wrote. “She was saying, ‘I am leaving my child behind, I need my child, help me.’ The pain of seeing a young Ugandan lady in that state was unbearable.”
Wekesa said attempts to engage the security personnel were futile, leaving him feeling powerless. He added that the woman was eventually subdued, suspecting she had been drugged.
The incident, he noted, reinforced his resolve to continue building businesses and protecting jobs in Uganda, despite the challenges.
“In my head, I was like, let me work hard to at least maintain the jobs I have created,” he said. “It’s not easy doing that anywhere in the world, but even harder in Uganda.”
Reflecting on global trends, Wekesa warned that conditions for Africans abroad are becoming increasingly hostile, citing heightened security and immigration enforcement in parts of Europe.
“The world out there is becoming more harsh to Africans,” he said, recalling his arrival in Madrid where armed police officers were stationed at airport exits checking documents.
He also linked the rise in migration to limited economic opportunities at home, arguing that even political actors are ultimately driven by the same search for livelihoods.
“These guys are also looking for jobs if you observe so well,” he remarked, adding that enterprises often become the easiest targets for taxation.
Wekesa stressed the importance of national branding and economic positioning, saying a well-branded country creates wider opportunities for its citizens both locally and abroad.
“When a country is well branded, open market opportunities grow so fast,” he said. “Anybody with a skill or desire to learn will easily tap into that.”
Turning his message to young people, Wekesa urged discipline, financial responsibility, and long-term thinking.
“When you are young and get an opportunity, don’t waste it, don’t dance away the earnings,” he cautioned. “The world is rough out there and isn’t going to get easier.”
He shared that the deportation prompted heartfelt conversations with his children about consistency and resilience.
“I told my son, be consistent, be focused, because it’s tough out there,” Wekesa said. “They are starting to say, ‘Dad, we are seeing some of the things you have spoken about happen.’”
Wekesa concluded with a call for personal responsibility and collective action, reminding Ugandans that progress begins with individual effort.
“We all have 24 hours,” he said. “Don’t sit back and wait for some other person to do it. Ask yourself, how am I helping in this situation?”
His remarks have sparked wide discussion online, resonating with many Ugandans grappling with unemployment, migration pressures, and an increasingly unforgiving global environment.
