By Our Reporters
The list of the 70 girls who are stranded at the Ugandan Embassy in Abu Dhabi has
been released by the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development. What is intriguing is that none of them went through a licensed and registered company by the government. The Gender Ministry information shows most of the girls went by visit visas or could have been trafficked by unscrupulous individuals.
The list contains passport number details, names and departure status (Sponsor individual names) who facilitated their travel instead of government labor externalization-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 and they traveled to the Arab nation as tourists without any guidance of registered Recruitment Agencies regulated by the Ministry of Gender and Labor.
“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,” Minister Janet Balunzi Mukwaya maintained recently during the signing of the bilateral agreement between Uganda and the 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 is now calling upon all Ugandans intending to work abroad to use the legal and secure channels to go abroad which is through licensed companies supervised by the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development. Uganda Association of External labor recruitment agencies (UAERA) public relations manager Ronald Mukundane says that those youths who venture on their own to find jobs abroad are categorized as ‘Adventurers.’ He adds: ”None 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.”
Mukundane advises that young Ugandans who intend to travel for work abroad should always contact either the ministry of labor or the Associations 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, Labor and Social Development has since developed a digital system to host all processes involved in labor exportation so as to fight human trafficking in the externalization of labor business.
According to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary 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. The list follows:
