That juicy Kyeyo opportunity could land you in captivity
“Rampant unemployment, especially among young people, is to blame," said Retired Major David Rusa, a former director in the Internal Security Organisation (ISO).
Retired Major David Rusa, a former director in the ISOsays it is poverty and unemployment that push people into making desperate decisions in search of greener pastures.(File photos)
By Sam Wakhakha
Journalists @New Vision
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In April 2023, 20-year-old Juliet Nambuya’s friend and neighbour in Northern division, Mbale city, successfully applied for a scholarship that had been advertised on the Ugandan education ministry website.
On September 23, 2024, she informed Nambuya that she had succeeded and was to travel to Russia to train in logistics management.
Encouraged by her friend’s messages, Nambuya also applied for the same scholarship after completing her A’level exams that same year. Unlike her friend, whose application was fast-tracked, Nambuya’s is taking long.
“When I sought more information about the programme, I was told that the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development had raised questions about it because of the category of people it targeted,” Nambuya said.
According to information on the education ministry website, only females aged 18-23 were eligible for the scholarship in logistics, tower crane operations, welding engineering, heavy equipment operator, service and hospitality catering, industry, front desk service, tiling work and installation.
But a few months after it was advertised, the gender and social development minister, Betty Amongi, said she had requested the Ugandan Embassy in Russia to verify the information because of the demographic that was being targeted – girls aged 18-23 – which the ministry considered vulnerable.
According to Nambuya, her friend was enrolled at Alabuga Polytechnic in Tatarstan city in western Russia. But this area is prone to attacks from Ukraine and its allies because of the war industries it hosts.
On April 2, 2025, Russia’s African Initiative news agency reported that there had been a drone strike on a hostel housing African students at Alabuga Polytechnic. Ukraine and its allies targeted Tatarstan city because it has factories that are making war materials such as Shahed drones for Russia.
A report by the Institute for Science and International Security thinktank based in the US indicated that foreigners, especially young people from developing countries, were being recruited to work in the war factories, which are targets of attacks. The recruits are from countries such as Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, among others.
Although students from African countries such as South Sudan, Malawi, Nigeria and Kenya are still being recruited, a source at the Ugandan Embassy in Moscow told New Vision that the programme was put on hold in Kampala because of safety concerns. This was later confirmed by Minister Amongi, who said, “We want to ensure that young women do not end up in exploitative employment.”
Chief of Defence Forces warns
But the youth are not the only group that has been stopped. Early this month, the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, warned Ugandans against taking part in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In a message posted on his X platform, Gen Kainerugaba warned of severe punishment for any Ugandans who takes part in the conflict.
The Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
“Ugandans are forbidden from being recruited to participate in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Anyone who dares will be punished severely,” he stated in a message posted on his X handle.
The CDF’s message comes after Ugandan security agencies said they had intercepted over 100 individuals, mainly former soldiers with combat experience, en route to Moscow in what Ugandan security believes was recruitment for the war. The security authorities did not reveal the side on which the suspects were going to fight. Security authorities also arrested two Russian nationals.
It was not clear which of the conflict the intercepted Ugandans were being taken to fight. But what was clear was that the individuals were en route to Moscow, a security source said. The source said more than 100 individuals were recruited by a shadowy military contracting company with the help of local accomplices who are also under investigation.
Those intercepted were mainly ex-Ugandan combatants, including those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. The intercepted individuals were reportedly recruited by a shadowy contractor who had promised them hefty salaries of about $6,000.
Since the start of the conflict, Uganda has officially opted to be neutral.
Recruitment not new
The intercepted individuals are not the first Ugandan combatants whose services are being sought in foreign war zones. In 2008, American contractor Black Water recruited hundreds of war veterans from Uganda and Sierra Leone for combat activities in the Middle East.
Many were hired and deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan to back the American and British forces. The scheme came under the condemnation of international rights groups after it emerged that some of the hired people had died in the war zones.
Why Uganda is a target?
Because of the past civil wars, some African countries, including Uganda, have become fertile grounds for recruitment of combatants.
Retired Major David Rusa, a former director in the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and currently a lecturer of International relations AT Cavendish University, says it is poverty and unemployment that push people into making desperate decisions in search of greener pastures.
“Rampant unemployment, especially among young people, is to blame. As former combatants, the only occupation they know is soldiering. This, coupled with the low retirement packages, makes it difficult for ex-combatants to make ends meet. So, when an opportunity presented itself, they were willing to take it,” he said.
He also says there is little sensitisation on how ex-combatants can utilise their packages before they are paid.
"There is no follow-up mechanism to monitor how combatants use their packages. Hence, even the little they got was squandered. It would have been wise to give these people some vocational skills like bricklaying, carpentry, metal works, shoe repair, farming tips,” he explained.
Rusa said Ugandans' mistaken mentality that the grass is greener on the other side is making them end up in such situations.
“Also, ex-combatants believe they have seen and done it all as they were in Somalia, CAR, DRC, South Sudan, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, etc. So, they feel they can survive anywhere. There are people who are not ideological anyway, but they are now pure mercenaries for hire.”
Godwin Toko, an activist, agrees with Rusa. He says there always needs to be massive government-led campaigns to enlighten the people on the dangers of human trafficking.
“I think a lot of these people are innocent victims who don't know what they sign up for. The push factor is poverty in Uganda, a lot of Ugandans are barely surviving, and so, they become vulnerable and easy to exploit. Then, there are loopholes in law, and accountability mechanisms that do not hold perpetrators accountable, and so they keep doing it. That's partly corruption,” he says.
For Russia, Toko says most Ugandans think they are safe.
“I think because Russia has a good relationship with Uganda, many Ugandans think bad things can't happen in Russia, they think Russians are here to save Africans. So, they easily fall prey,” he says.
Remedies
Ezra Mugisha, the executive director of Horeb Services, a labour export company, said that to prevent infiltration by local traffickers, Uganda needs to sign more bilateral agreements with countries where it exports labour.
“There are few bilateral agreements between Uganda and other countries, which have increased the number of traffickers who disguise themselves as labour export companies,” Mugisha said during the 2025 People’s Choice Quality Awards held at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala recently.