The Deputy Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah has advised Mukono Municipality Member of Parliament Betty Nambooze to take matters of mistreated Ugandans abroad to the Uganda Association of External Recruitment Agency (UAERA).
Oulanyah also tasked UAERA to expeditiously handle the repatriation of workers stranded in foreign countries under uncomfortable working conditions.
Oulanyah said labour export agencies that are licensed and operating within the law, subscribe to UAERA through payment of insurance, and should handle repatriation or treatment of workers.
“So there should not be any burden to any parent that their child is stranded somewhere and they are looking for money to repatriate them or that they should refund money before they are brought back,” Oulanyah explained.
The Deputy Speaker made the remarks in response to a concern raised by Mukono Municipality MP, Betty Nambooze on Thursday, 01 August 2019. Nambooze said that youth who sought employment abroad through labour agencies were stuck and unable to return to Uganda.
Nambooze noted that following the Deputy Speaker’s directive on18 July 2019, several girls are stranded at the Uganda embassy in the United Arab Emirates as they wait for support to return home.
This was after Nambooze raised procedure in which she asked Oulanyah to inform Parliament of a decision he had taken about setting up a select committee to investigate issues of mistreated Ugandans that go to work abroad because she was receiving new cases of Mistreated girls.
MP Betty Nambooze
Nambooze claims that when she raised the issue of 53 girls that were stranded at the Ugandan embassy in United Arab Emirates (UAE), the ambassador retaliated by chasing away the girls.