Leadership at the time of need -2

I am going back to my views on Asian leadership at the time of expulsion. Let’s revisit the second question which was:

• Did the Asian leaders fulfill the implied obligations that the departing Asian community had expected?

On reflection, why was there an ‘implied’ need or obligation? Leaders are appointed as leaders because they are expected to lead. Are they? Really? It really depended on the interpretation of their role by the leaders themselves. In the absence of a politically affiliated framework, Asian leaders in East Africa saw themselves as religious or faith leaders most of the time when they were elected in faith- based organisations. It was also a role which many performed extremely well – making arrangements for regular events according to the cultural calendar, such As Diwali, Gurpurb, Eid and New Year celebrations. Arrangements for marriages, deaths and other functions connected to the rites of passage were also well managed considering that many volunteers were involved. Even the cleaning of the food halls and the communal kitchens was carried out by volunteers – in most cases the paid African workers were not particularly welcome in the communal kitchens, where ‘kosher’ food was prepared under vigilance. This policy reflected more the puritanical outlooks of the management and the members of the organisation.

Were the Asians fully aware of the implications of African independence on their status as non-citizens? It would seem that they understood the meaning of independence more in relation to concerns for work permits, jobs and trading licenses than in the context of self-determination of a people who were taking control of their own destiny. Besides, independence was not altogether a new experience! One did not need to be reminded that it was India that had first attained independence! A few farsighted leaders arranged the odd talk or advisory session during the period immediately before independence of Uganda. One that I went to attend dealt with ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ after the country became independent.  There was no mention to the people they would do well to have valid travel documents for the whole family. It must be granted that if the briefing process was not carefully managed, the leaders could be exposed to risk and accused of creating a panic during the run up to independence.

However, when the Asian expulsion was announced, there was no advice given to people who had been caught unprepared. Most of the leaders did not organise meetings to discuss the situation with the communities that they were leading. There was very little mention of support that could be arranged or really, needed to be arranged to help the departing families prepare themselves for the ordeals ahead of them. It seems that the leaders either failed to rise to the challenge or did not recognise that they had a responsibility. This is the reason for describing their leadership role as real and ‘implied’ roles.

One of our friends, Ranjit (not his real name) was caught in a situation where his British passport had been replaced by his newly acquired Ugandan Citizenship. He did not wish to stay in Uganda. The best option for him was to queue outside the British High Commission and to seek support for his application to go to the UK, a nationality which he had only recently given up. It had become known that the average waiting time before one could see an officer in the British High Commission (BHC) was twenty four hours. So about six of us went to offer moral support and also to queue for Ranjit…and give him breaks.  We arrived at the BHC at around 9 am hoping for the best. A long queue had already formed and people who were joining it the back could not even see the BHC building. The queue was moving at snail’s pace but people were talking, comparing their passport ‘situations’ and reasons for being in the queue, their family needs and how they were facing immense challenges. There was some humour from time to time and also commotion when the queue became unruly. The policemen would walk over to the queue and ordered the people to sort themselves out. The queue itself was very vigilant; making sure that no one was jumping the queue by performing a number of ingenious tricks backed by spurious explanations.

 

It was early evening and some of us had left our homes 12 hours earlier. There was a constant number of people coming to the queue and speaking to the person in front or behind. Almost all of these people were family members or friends who making sure that their relative was safe and comfortable. Then it was noticed that a particular man who was carrying a large bag with a strap over his shoulder was receiving quite a lot of visitors and all of them were very polite and formal towards him. Every conversation ended with      “So you’ve got everything, all the documents and everything will fine, Okay? Okay, yes? Yes.”And the man would reply with confidence that they would get their entry visas into the UK by noon the next day. He even said to some people that he had already spoken to a Mrs. K at the High Commission and ‘Kai Wandho nathi’ i.e. there was nothing to worry about. Then, a man came to check that the person in front of me was really the person who had his case to present to the High Commission. I asked him how many entry visa cases he was going to present to the BHC officers when he reached the desk. He ignored my question. “How many passports are you carrying?” I asked with some sternness which even surprised me. He replied “Not too many, don’t worry”. “How many passports are you carrying?” I asked loudly. He replied the number was 25 but most were for families with similar problems. I said that how I wished that his services were widely available and asked him how much did he charge per case? Maybe Ranjit, my friend should have asked for his help? He replied that he charged up to 1000 Ugandan shillings or more depending on the case, per passport. I suddenly told him very confidently that I estimated that he had 200 passports in his bag; which he contested with equal vigour. Then he said it was only 50 passports and it dawned on me that my friend Ranjit’s case would not even be heard as we would run of out of time. I asked him how many passports he was carrying for his own family. He replied, with considerable irritation that he was just acting for other people. I then told the person behind me that the man probably had 200 passports in his bag. The word started to spread and then someone shouted “Get rid of the Passport Agent, get rid of him”.

 

The policemen on guard suddenly realised that they had a worthwhile task to deal with and so they walked up to him, with me, aged 22, looking into his bag. “He is an agent and making money out of the needs of desperate people,” I spoke with great confidence, drawing on my investigations and feeling morally very superior but almost addressing the police. The policemen decided to deal with the easy issues first and said “Misita Seengh, you keepi quiet or I willi senda you home.” That was it. He had succeeded in silencing me with those few words. Then another man in the parallel queue said to the policeman,” Bwana, he is an agent and he is not here for his own family. He is making money…look at him, the evil bastard.” The policemen turned to him and said,” You! You willi not sweayar in thisi q, I am in chargi”. That brought the other man to silence. The policemen and the ‘agent’ were then involved in a conversation for quite some time. And then he turned around and summoned the Military Police van “He is an agent, take him away”. A loud cheer and hundreds of claps were followed by a sudden silence.

 

What were they going to do with him? It was too late. My intervention was probably going to lead the agent to prison and even death, I thought with increasing remorse. I spoke to the man in the parallel queue and he replied “Don’t worry, Sardarji, he will pay a few hundred bob and will be back in this queue tomorrow.” That sounded very reassuring. By this time it was dawn and in a few hours our friend Ranjit would be back from home and make a case for his entry into the UK. I moved out of the queue and someone else took my place to await Ranjit’s arrival. At exactly 9.36 am, Ranjit was called into the British High Commission by someone who said that she was Mrs. K. By 9.43am, Ranjit was out of the building. His case for an entry into the UK had been rejected. We had queued for over 24 hours and it took 7 minutes to dismiss his application.

How many hundreds or even thousands of people had a problem similar to Ranjit? Did the Asian leaders have a role if not a duty to help the very people who had donated small amounts of money to build the institutions that had given the leaders the power to lead?  Here are the scenarios that a proactive and problem solving leadership might have considered:

1. Start negotiations with the British High Commission to try to agree some issues in principle. They could have tried to negotiate a simpler method for processing documents.
2. Appoint a few lawyers with experience of immigration law to work urgently with families needing support. Once their documents had been validated, the lawyers could have been supported to work outside the queuing system since the principle of  ‘first-come first served’ did not apply.
3. Seek collective guidance from the embassies of other countries to help arrange safe passage of Asian families to their countries.

 It is not known whether any such attempts were made by Sikh, Hindu and Gujarati community leaders. The Ismaili community stole the honours; they were well represented, supported and also funded by the community leaders and The Aga Khan, their spiritual leader. Having said this, it became known later that a few poor Sikh families were offered confidential help to buy air travel tickets.

It remains to be judged by posterity whether Asian leadership had failed to rise to the challenge of supporting their communities immediately after the expulsion. It is difficult to be conclusive at this stage because more reliable information and evidence is needed. However, it is unlikely that accurate information will be available for very much longer. The majority of the older leaders are no longer alive. In the absence of records, an issue to return to at another time, it is almost certain that Asian community leaders failed to lead conclusively and comprehensively. Their communities were on their own, with little or no support.