Police accused of fuelling human trafficking

Overseas Workers Voice (OWV), an organisation fighting human trafficking in Uganda, has accused a section of police officers especially those from the Elgon region of fuelling human trafficking and frustrating some of the cases that have been reported to the police.

Mariam Mwiza ,the executive director of the organisation said police has on several occasions aided human trafficking by frustrating the completion of cases reported to them.

Addressing journalists on Monday in Kampala, Mwiza cited the case of a one Christine Nambereke who was trafficked to Oman and brought back dead.

“I am here to tell the public...Uganda Police has frustrated our efforts to keep migrant workers from harm,"she said. She said a suspect arrested in connection with human trafficking had been released by the police.

Her remarks followed the death of three migrant workers who were brought back in the country last year in December from the middle East where they had gone to look for greener pastures.

She however said that at least 93 people have been repatriated from several countries in the middle East since 2018 where they have been trafficked by individuals or companies.

Charles Twine ,the CID spokesperson, said the accusations labelled at them are baseless and unfortunate.

"The evidence was taken to the Directorate of Public Prosecution, evaluated by an independent lawyer and in their own wisdom, they confirmed to us that the available evidence was sufficient to warrant prosecution and consequently the file was sanctioned,"he said.

Some relatives of the victims also accused the remanded suspect for attempt to use his political connection to escaped police custody.