The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Frank Tumwebaze has met with labour recruiting and exporting agencies under their umbrella body Uganda Association of External Recruitment Agency (UAERA) in a move aimed at improving the regulatory framework for externalisation of labour and ensure safety of Ugandan workers abroad.
The meeting took place on Tuesday at Ministry of Labour head offices in Kampala.
This was after Tumwebaze received young girls back home who had been taken to work as house maids in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
“Their relatives sent me messages about their distressed calls for help. We worked with the company that had taken them to have them back,” Tumwebaze said in a tweet.About yesterday’s meeting with licensed labour exporting firms, Tumwebaze said: “We had candid talks on the ethical conduct of their members and challenges they face…
We agreed together to fight human trafficking. They also raised their challenges with government to do with getting mandatory clearances like Interpol for their migrant candidates.”
The Minister added that workers that legally seek employment thru licensed labour firms are easy to trace and offer them consular support.
“The companies that take them remain responsible for them and when in distress we task them. It’s however difficult for those that move illegally or are trafficked,” Tumwebaze said.
Labour firms complained that different government agencies are killing labour externalization through delays in processing the required documents.
Labour firms say Interpal delays in clearing workers from labour firms and currently six recruitment companies can’t export workers because they haven’t been cleared for over six months.
Sources said the Minister was also told of how top officials in government are behind the rampant human trafficking.
