By Kefa Senoga
Brain drain means the depletion of a country’s best and brightest workers who take their knowledge and skill to another country – usually leaving lower wages in a home country for higher wages in another country.
Such was the topic of discussion among Uganda Christian University (UCU) students and facilitators from BBC Africa Daily. The occasion was a recent masterclass podcast session organized by a BBC Africa Daily team consisting of Alan Kasujja, host of Africa Daily; Janet Ball, producer for Africa Daily; and BBC minute presenter Ria Khatab. The main question was: Would you stay, or would you go?
According to BBC, a new survey of more than 4,500 age 18-24 people in Africa found that 52% are likely to consider emigrating in the next few years, citing economic hardship and education opportunities as the top reasons. Ms. Ball says Ugandan young people are more optimistic about the future in their home country than youth in Kenya and Nigeria.
Kasujja says that one of the most difficult decisions he had to make in life was accepting a job offer in another country. He appeared both amused and conflicted by the answers he got from the young people at UCU regarding why they want to spend the rest of their lives in Uganda or why they want to leave.
Throughout this discussion, the common justifications from these young people on why they want to leave their countries were three-fold: adventure, better paying jobs and better education opportunities.
Kenneth Bananuka, a third-year journalism student playing with the UCU basketball team, says that he wants to play professional basketball at the highest level, which is not in Uganda.
Joshua Bamwike, a UCU School of Medicine student, said the pay for medical workers in Uganda is unfavorable. “As medical students, we put in a lot of effort in research and pay high sums of tuition; then at the end of the day, the salaries we are paid are still discussed while in other better countries, it’s not negotiable for medical workers to get a better pay.” He thinks of moving to Canada, if he got the opportunity after his studies.
“How much money do you want?” Kasujja asked.
“Roughly, I would want 30 million Ugshs a month (about $8,000 dollars),” Bamwike replied. According to statistics, monthly poverty in the USA remained elevated in February 2022, with a 14.4 percent poverty rate for the total US population considering the high cost of living.
However, Rukia Micky Nambwayo, also a medical student at UCU looking forward to being a gynecologist, does not agree with those who wish to leave their country to seek greener pastures. Nambwayo says that it is unfair for some doctors to leave their country and go look for jobs elsewhere.
“They should stay and serve their country such that the people in Uganda also get the opportunity of being treated by the best,” she says.
According to Nambwayo, when you decide to offer medical studies, you should not be looking at the money, but rather at the services and help that you are going to offer to people.
Two journalism students – Christiana Ampeire and Timothy Nsubuga – shared the same view of “going to other countries such that they can be able to learn new skills and knowledge and return to apply them in their countries.” Timothy Nsubuga emphasizes that he is “not looking forward to leaving my country and staying in a foreign country for over 100 years.”
Despite the fact that Ampeire is not looking at completely abandoning her country, she agrees that it is not unusual to hear young people lamenting about leaving their country. She says most of her colleagues share the same view with Bamwike that there is no hope in their country and, therefore, they have to find means of leaving.
Ampeire thinks that the government should listen and act against the reasons that bring such kind of desperateness among the youth. “The youth in these professional fields should be catered for more in the national budget and even given more pay to motivate them,” Ampeire says.
