Post by Brian Mushana Kwesiga

If a football federation can use LinkedIn to find a defender in Ireland, an African government can map doctors in Boston, engineers in Toronto, lawyers in London, investors in Dubai and professors in Johannesburg. Football has already understood what policy still debates: layered identity is not disloyalty. It can be national advantage. Uganda should not wait until a diaspora child becomes too famous for England, Australia, Japan, Canada or the United States before remembering that the child was ours too. A country cannot treat children born abroad as strangers for most of their lives, then rush to claim them when a Premier League academy, a national team or a global stage reveals their value. If African countries can accept a diaspora-born striker as fully national when he scores, they should be able to accept diaspora-trained doctors, engineers, diplomats, investors, academics, entrepreneurs and public servants when they want to serve. We should not cheer a defender with two passports on Saturday and question the loyalty of a diaspora professional with two passports on Monday. My latest article: Africa’s World Cup Moment Is Really a Diaspora Story.