More than 500 Ugandans living and working abroad contacted the government seeking emergency assistance after finding themselves in distress during the 2025/26 financial year, though less than 20 percent were successfully brought back home, a new report reveals.
The findings, contained in the 2025/26 Governance and Security Programme report released in Kampala on Friday, highlight the severe vulnerabilities faced by the Ugandan diaspora and the mounting pressure on state machinery to protect citizens trapped in hostile environments overseas.
According to the report, state agencies recorded 523 distress calls from citizens in foreign countries, but only 96 individuals were successfully repatriated during the period under review.
‘…The government also responded to 523 cases involving Ugandans in distress and facilitated 96 repatriations, demonstrating continued attention to citizen protection and welfare abroad,’ the report states.
Despite documenting the volume of distress calls, the report omits critical details regarding the exact nature of the emergencies, the specific host countries where citizens were trapped, or why full repatriation was achieved for only 96 individuals.
The report further notes that performance in delivering general consular services fell below set targets, though the government expanded its diaspora engagements to 22 events against an annual target of eight. Interventions were supported by the External Security Organisation (ESO), which monitored labor export processes, recruitment agencies, and immigration flows.
‘While the volume of general consular services was below target, the response to distress cases, repatriation and diaspora engagement demonstrated continued government commitment to citizen protection and diaspora mobilisation,’ the report states.
The intervention figures contrast sharply with larger emergency evacuations undertaken by the state earlier in the year. In July, the government deployed chartered Uganda Airlines flights to evacuate 1,102 Ugandans from South Africa free of charge following a wave of xenophobic violence, anti-immigrant protests, and targeted security threats.
Beyond diaspora management, the report details broader metrics across national security, law enforcement, and judicial administration. The national crime rate dropped from 501 incidents per 100,000 people in FY 2023/24 to 427 in FY 2025/26. The police-to-population ratio also saw slight improvement, moving from one officer per 945 citizens to one per 893, while the sub-county policing model expanded to reach 93 percent coverage nationwide.
On civil registration, the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) assigned National Identification Numbers (NINs) to 34.37 million citizens, covering roughly 74.8 percent of the estimated population. During the same period, 14.2 million identity cards were renewed and 8.9 million new citizens were registered.
Infrastructure and technical capacity within the Justice, Law, and Order Sector (JLOS) also recorded progress. Key achievements include the official completion and occupation of the flagship JLOS Tower in Kampala, the construction of the Soroti Regional Office reaching 89 percent, and the completion of Phase II of the National DNA Databank Infrastructure. State security agencies recruited 21,746 personnel and conducted training or retraining for 55,810 officers.
Additionally, command-center CCTV networks monitored 7,591 incidents and directly supported 1,686 specialized investigations.
However, the report warns that state agencies remain constrained by inadequate capacity to respond to modern cyber threats, transnational crime, maritime security challenges, fire emergencies, and the growing demand for specialized technology.
Speaking during the report launch in Kampala, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, Hajj Yunus Kakande, emphasized the necessity of maintaining national peace as a prerequisite for socio-economic development, reflecting on the nation’s political history.
‘From independence, the first 25 years which we had, Uganda had no peace at all. We were always in conflict, loss of life, extrajudicial killings, and an unspeakable regime. However, from 1986 to date, all that we experienced previously is now history. So it’s our job to make sure that we consolidate the peace we have in our country. Without peace, we shall achieve nothing,’ Mr Kakande said.
Despite the outlined gains, the report concludes that overall performance across the governance sector’s nine primary objectives remained uneven, citing ongoing gaps in international cooperation, refugee resilience programs, gender compliance, and public institution service delivery.