By Amon Baita
A list of 70 girls who are stranded at the Ugandan Embassy in AbuDhabi has
been released by the ministry of gender, labour and social development and none of the girls on the list indicates went through a licensed and
registered company by the government as it shows most of them went by
visit visas or could have been trafficked by individuals.
The list that was released contains passport number details,names and
departure status (Sponsor individual names ) who facilitated their
travel instead of government labour externalisation approved
companies.
An official from the ministry said that all girls on the list had
gone to secure themselves informal jobs as house maids in the Middle
East traveled to the Arab nation as tourists without any guidance of
registered Recruitment Agencies under the Ministry of Gender and
Labour.
“At the moment, they’re residing at the Uganda Guest House within the
Embassy of Uganda in Abu Dhabi”.He said.
With high rates of unemployment levels in the country ,Ugandans have
had the option of externalizing labor and try to make ends meet abroad
but the ministry maintains that it should be done within the right
procedures.
“We have said this before and we shall not tire to say it over and
over again. If you want to work abroad, make sure you do that through
licensed companies under the Ministry that are in place to ensure our
citizens get safe and secure job placements abroad and can be
monitored severally because we shall not be responsible for Ugandans
who go by themselves”,The Minister of labour Janat Mukwaya maintained
recently as the government of Uganda signed bilateral agreement with
UAE government.
“All these girls that are stranded at embassy possess VISIT VISAS.
They traveled on their own and thought they could get the jobs by
themselves which is bad because the employers will either not trust
your work ethics or take you up to exploit you if they’re
evil-hearted” the ministry official noted.
The Ministry called upon all Ugandans with intentions to work abroad
to use the legal, and secure channels to go abroad which is through
licensed companies supervised by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and
Social Development.
When we contacted Uganda Association of External labour recruitment
agencies(UAERA),The public relations manager Ronald Mukundane said
that those youths who venture on their own to find jobs abroad are
categorized as ‘Adventures’.
”Non of these girls on the list went through a licensed company as
indicated on the list”, and this category of youth are the ones who
make a lot of noise on social media whenever they get into trouble
while there hence tarnishing the image of our industry”,He said
arguing young Ugandans who intend to travel for work abroad to always
contact either the ministry of labour or the Association’s offices at
BMK house for guidance about licensed companies to go through.He also
asked the ministry in collaboration with the media and UAERA to
investigate those who could be responsible for these young Ugandans
since some individual names are indicated on the list as their
sponsors.
The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development developed a
digital system to host all processes involved in labour exportation so
as to fight human trafficking in the externalisation of labour .
According to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Mr. Pius Bigirimana,
the External Employment Management Information System (EEMIS) has been designed to manage the entire application workflow ranging from
submission of an application to go and work abroad to approval.
