Taxman delays deportation of Ugandan doctors
Bame Piet | Thursday May 15, 2014 13:32
The two Ugandan doctors scheduled to be deported later today or tomorrow morning reportedly owed Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) over P2 million in Income Tax and Value Added Tax. Sources say that one of the deportees operated a business bank account using an underage child.
The duo Eli Musinguzi and Brian Mutebi are still in police custody after BURS halted their deportation on Monday on grounds that they owed the taxman. It is said the duo operated three clinics - Gaborone Clinic, Tembo Clinic and Exel Health Clinic all in Gaborone. 'For many years, they did not file their tax returns and one of the clinics was not registered with BURS,' said a source involved in the matter. Director of Immigration, Mabuse Pule confirmed yesterday that the Ugandans are still in custody awaiting finalisation of their deportation papers.
'We have just signed per diem for the officers who will be escorting them. We are now waiting for Air Botswana to confirm flights because tickets were already booked but the flight had to be rescheduled. This is a security matter so it is challenging to find flights that will take the deportees, who may cause trouble once on board,' he explained yesterday. Pule stated that the two were declared Prohibited Immigrants on April 30. 'That is how it is, once a declaration has been made, it is my duty to look for the culprits and remand them immediately. They don't even have a chance to go to their homes, they have been declared unwanted people,' he said.
Another delay to the deportation is security. The Ugandan consul in Botswana Dr Sebastian Okhello said the two have been staying in the country for more than six years and there is no smoke without fire. He said when he received the information on the deportation, he made enquiries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he was satisfied with the explanation.
'In protocol, if a country sees an individual as an undesirable immigrant, we do not go into details to probe why. The two men have been in this country for more than six years, and we had reason to believe that they must have done something wrong,' he said.
Okhello denied reports that he was informed about the deportation and that he carried out his own investigation and was satisfied with what he got. 'I don't know that.'Meanwhile the consul said that the Ugandan community in Botswana has been giving the families of the two medics moral support. He would not immediately state whether the families will receive any financial assistance to go back home or to sustain themselves.
Meanwhile, the Botswana Health Professionals Council (BHPC) which regulates medical practitioners in the country says it does know about the deportation of the two. A member who preferred anonymity, since he was not authorised to speak with the media, said that the council was not consulted and there may be serious consequences for the oversight.
'The two gentlemen may want to practice elsewhere, and they would apply to the BHPC for Certificate of Good Standing and we will have no reason to deny them such because no formal complaint was forwarded to BHPC,' she explained. She said the government should have communicated with BHPC and other stakeholders to protect the lives of Batswana, instead of just deporting the doctors.
'Deportation doesn't solve anything,' she said. She added that without the certificate, none of the doctors would practice in any country. The registrar at BHPC, Ogona Tshoswane said that they have not been officially informed about the deportation but they will meet with relevant authorities this morning.