There were reports that South Sudan has banned the employment of foreigners by NGOs effective from October 15.

There were some denials as neighbours involved in the construction of South Sudan gasped, and Uganda dispatched a foreign affairs minister to Juba to get to the bottom of the matter.

The ban reportedly affects all jobs from receptionist to director, probably meaning that foreigners could only work as porters and cleaners.

I am all for free movement of labour across the borders but people who restrict labour movement within their borders should be the last to cast a stone at South Sudan.

From the little I know about Uganda, it is not easy for a chap born in western Uganda to be employed in the district service in northern Uganda and vice versa.

In Uganda, we have even coined a term “Bafuruki” to refer to people who originate from different districts in the same republic that, we target for discrimination. In fact, during the 2006 General Election, a candidate in the mid west of the country who successfully won the district chairmanship was barred from taking office because his ancestors are from the southwest, making him a “Mufuruki.”

You may ask who barred him. It was a complicated process only Ugandans are capable of staging, and even the president of the republic got involved, trying to persuade the locals to accept the man they had voted for, then trying to persuade the man to withdraw interest from the post he had won democratically.

If we cannot allow a Mukiga who wins an election in Bunyoro to take office, should we really complain when South Sudan asks a Ugandan to stop working in a public office in Juba, giving them a month’s notice?

The other East African country with interest in South Sudan jobs is Kenya. Let me hope that under the province systems, a qualified Kenyan from the shores of Lake Victoria can easily be employed by the provincial administration around Mount Kenya and vice versa. Otherwise Kenyans should also examine themselves before criticising South Sudan for ring-fencing jobs for its nationals.

It is true that South Sudan has applied to join the East African Community. But in their current state, we should give them time to sort out their internal problems, which are neither few, nor simple.

They have a war going on in there and it is not a picnic. Why should a foreigner insist on working there? The international community committed a lot of resources and time to facilitate the transition of South Sudan from a marginalised and oppressed region into an independent state. Kenya and Uganda played key roles in the process.

After the South Sudanese got independence, they decided to further sort out their outstanding internal differences using arms.

Last December, they entered the armed phase of determining who should rule, but we foreigners moved in to slow down the process. I think our role should have stopped at evacuating foreigners and let the South Sudan complete their process of determining the ultimate leadership of their country, using their preferred route – the armed one.

The earlier the foreigners get out of South Sudan, the faster the process will be completed. Once a clear dominant force takes power or keeps power in Juba, they will invite us to go back and do the jobs where our expertise is needed, until they develop their own capacity to do them. For now, let us let them determine their destiny.

Joachim Buwembo is a Knight International Fellow for development journalism. E-mail: [email protected]