Ssemujju calls for establishment of an evacuation fund for Ugandan migrant workers

Kiira Municipality Member of Parliament Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda has called for the establishment of an Evacuation Fund to evacuate migrant workers who face inhumane mistreatment while employed abroad.

While warning parliament, Ssemuju noted that a total ban on labour exportation would create a crisis given the high unemployment rates in Uganda.

Ssemujju advised parliament to put an evacuation fund with offices in all the big cities, where Ugandans go to work so as to deal with the issues as they come.

“We should stop dealing with this matter in an emotional way; let us try to help whoever lands into trouble because the report says you have nearly 200,000 girls in Saudi Arabia. So, if 20 are abused, just deal with the abuses, otherwise, just imagine the day Saudi Arabia, Oman, Dubai says go back to Uganda, you will be in trouble,” he said.

Ssemujju made the remarks during the consideration of the report of the Committee on Gender, Labour and Social Development on a petition by Elivanson Nabatanzi, who petitioned Parliament in May 2022, demanding the return of her daughter who was taken by Prime Linkages Limited to work as a house help in Saudi Arabia.

The Kira municipality MP further argued that people who go to work as maids, don’t go to work in companies where there are standards, because there are no standards in homes and instead, these workers are treated according to the temper and conduct in a particular home.

“I think Parliament is devoting so much time discussing this issue emotionally. Until we have stopped the vulnerabilities forcing girls to go and work as maids, there can’t be standards including the recruitment agencies, you are just blaming them for nothing, each home treats people differently, there are those who are going to abuse them, there are those who are going to beat them,” he stated.

He added, “The preliminary issues that we can deal with is the quick evacuation and let us be present in these areas where they are, we have no consulate or embassy in Oman. Saudi Arabia is such a vast country, when the girls are abused in Jeddah, it takes them 12 hours to go to Riyadh by bus. The amount we are receiving from these girls as per figures given by this report, if we look at the economy, is more than the money we get from all crops exported including coffee.”

In 2022, the ministry of Gender, Labor and social development released a report on labor externalization revealing that, at least an average of 24,086 Ugandans leave the country annually in search of employment, especially to the Middle East.