The articles were easy to spot. One English daily had: “Government fines illegal immigrants Ush450m”. Another: “Keep off petty business, government tells Chinese traders.” The articles are merely two of many that have appeared in the Ugandan media in recent years.

They highlight two related issues causing concern in sections of Ugandan society. One is what growing numbers of citizens perceive as uncontrolled immigration, mainly from the Indian subcontinent and its neighbourhood, and China. The other is the immigrants’ venturing into areas of the economy that many argue should be reserved for locals: petty trade and retail trade.

This view enjoys the support of politicians, not least President Yoweri Museveni himself who, not too long ago, while addressing ruling party officials and government functionaries, made remarks that left no doubt about where he stands on the issue.

In the article cited above, whose title leaves nothing to the imagination, it was the Minister of Trade and Industry, Amelia Kyambadde, telling members of the Uganda-Chinese Business Association: “We do not expect you to go into petty business.”

That immigrants coming to Uganda to do business should leave the petty trades to Ugandans is one of the very few things on which Ms Kyambadde and her boss would receive unqualified support from their rivals in the opposition.

They, too, miss no opportunity to assure Ugandans who are bent on dominating petty trade that they are on their side. Hardly surprising, given politicians’ proclivity for pandering to so-called popular opinion.

Interestingly, in their haste to join Ugandan petty traders and retailers in carping about unfair competition, politicians seem to forget to discuss the other issue: Uncontrolled immigration.

Clearly, if a country that has a miniscule formal sector and a government and economy that have little capacity for creating jobs, even for their own nationals, it really can’t stop foreigners arriving in droves and using their ingenuity to proper in this Wild West society.

And if that ingenuity leads to intensification of economic activity, job creation, more tax revenue and ultimately economic growth, it ought to be celebrated, not condemned.

If the Chinese and Indians come in to do big business and fail and instead of packing up and leaving, switch instead to petty trade and retail – and in the process ensure their own wellbeing and contribute to that of the Ugandans they employ or buy from or sell to – rounding them up and deporting them is as smart as shooting oneself in the foot.

A smarter approach would be to regularise their immigration status, possibly after they have been fined if they must be punished, and then allow them to carry on making money, re-investing it, and creating more jobs. Thereafter, those state organs responsible for preventing illegal immigration should be enabled and/or compelled to do what they were established to do.

And while we are at it, the idea that somehow the only foreign investors Uganda needs are the big boys is debatable. We know from history that some of our local tycoons or their forefathers with foreign origins brought very little money with them, if at all, and started life as petty traders or retailers.

If the country had enough skilled or talented petty traders and retailers, there would be no space for the Chinese and Indian immigrants to occupy. With nothing to do in Uganda, they would either return home, or become criminals, since the Uganda government has no system of social security to support the poor and unemployed, of the kind our own emigrants benefit from after they land in rich countries and fail to find work.

The fact that the Chinese and Indians are able to engage in petty trade and not only survive but also prosper implies that there are limitless opportunities to exploit.

The Ugandans who complain about being outcompeted are possibly those without the necessary business acumen. Alongside those are others who are happy to fight it out or work jointly with the newcomers.

The complainers are probably better off finding something else to do, possibly seek employment from their more successful local and foreign competitors.

Like other occupations, business should be for those who can weather the associated storms. There is no reason why the adage “survival of the fittest” should apply in other domains, as indeed it does, but not in petty trade and retailing. If anything, it already applies, a fact that has nothing to do with the Chinese and Indians.

Studies by the World Economic Forum have shown that Ugandans are among the most enterprising people in the whole world.

They start thousands of businesses every year, a huge percentage of which collapse within a short time. That they collapse is not what is remarkable. What is, is that for the most part, those who fail pick themselves up and try again and again.

The reason why few people know about this is because these serial failures keep trying out different things until eventually they succeed or give up and move on quietly.

They should inspire the government to stop pandering to the closet xenophobes and political opportunists, and to the unemployed opportunity seekers who believe, erroneously, that the expulsion of creative and hardworking immigrants will somehow create opportunities for them.

Frederick Golooba-Mutebi is a Kampala- and Kigali-based researcher and writer on politics and public affairs. E-mail: [email protected]