Members of parliament on the gender, labour and social development committee have this afternoon recommended a fact finding mission to the Middle East Countries to investigate numerous complaints that Ugandan girls are tortured and killed by their employers.
Uganda exports 65,000 people to different countries across the world, with the biggest number in the Middle East countries including Qatar, Jodan, Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia among others.
However, in the coming 12 months, it is estimated that 80,000 Ugandans will be exported to the United Arab Emirates amid reports of inhumane treatment by employers.
This afternoon, the committee chairperson Alex Ndeezi led legislators to present a report in which they demanded that a fact finding mission be approved in order to come to a conclusion on the reports that continue to appear on social media and mainstream media.
According to Hon. Ndeezi, said that after several interactions with key stakeholders in the business, they concluded that there is need for an investigations into allegations that some of the ladies are trafficked by unscrupulous Ugandans who connive with their partners in the Middle East.
According to the committee report, government does not have an agreement with many countries including Oman, Kuwait, Turkey and Lebanon where Ugandans continue to be sent for work. The committee further asked that proper coordination and proper mechanisms be maintained between stakeholders during the process of externalization of labour.
The committee further recommended that fees charged by the labour placement organizations are regulated to avoid over charging the poor Ugandan youths that are looking to better their lives.
This would not be the first fact-finding mission by MPs as the same has been done in the past, but none of their recommendations were given a second thought upon return.
