Government signs bilateral agreement to stop Ugandans being mistreated in UAE

Government has said it cannot ban the exportation of labour to Middle East countries as has been asked by a certain section of the public due to increasing cases of mistreatment but said it has signed more bilateral agreements to fight the vice.

Mukono Municipality MP, Betty Nambooze early this week rapped government for failure to protect Ugandan girls who are suffering for allegedly being sold to the highest bidders in Middle East countries by profit-oriented private companies.

Addressing journalists on Friday, the Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, Janat Mukwaya said the only solution is signing bilateral agreements that would see the mistreatment end because going abroad is one way of solving the unemployment problem in the country.

“Uganda has signed more bilateral agreements to protect Ugandan workers working abroad that’s with Jordan, UAE and other countries. This is in effort to reduce unemployment in the country. Over 80,000 citizens work in those countries,”Mukwaya said on Friday at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala.

The minister revealed that for the first time, the Uganda government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization in UAE that will ensure that all Ugandans to the country go through right channels and are not mistreated.

“The agreement comes with stringent measures and will help deal with illegal employment companies because of more organized and safe employment to be created,”Mukwaya said.

“The signed MoU offers protection to our Ugandan migrants in a number of ways, especially through establishing a mechanism to discuss and exchange views on labour related problems and to resolve any outstanding issues relating to workers and their rights.”

She revealed that a contract will be signed by both parties prior to the Ugandans’ departure for work adding that it would be delivered in both English and Arabic all done by the recruitment agency in Uganda.

According to the Gender, Labour and Social Development Minister, upon arrival of the worker in United Arab Emirates, they will sign an employment contract that will clearly state their rights and obligations and that of the employer in conformity with the labour laws of the country.

“The contract will be duly filed with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization in the UAE to constitute the sole binding contract document for the purpose of enforcement in the United Arab Emirates.The terms and conditions of employment, as stated in the contract, shall not vary from those contained in the employment offer except for alterations that are favorable to the worker,” she added.

She said the MoU was signed on June 26, 2019 between her ministry and that of Human Resources and Emiratization in the UAE represented by Minister Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli.

As unemployment continues to bite, thousands of Ugandans have in the past few years found their way to Middle East countries including United Arab Emirates (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Omar for employment opportunities but a number of them have complained of exploitation and harassment.

Many of them have either been killed while in Middle East or have committed suicide over the mistreatment.

Enid Nambuya, the Executive Director of the Uganda Association of External Recruitment Agency (UAREA), an umbrella organization for registered export labour companies recently said a number of Ugandans travelling for work in the Middle East don’t use authentic documents and on getting problems, they can’t be helped.

“Because of frustrations at home, women welcome any form of work available abroad but they are not proud of it. They therefore use falsified documents so their people back home don’t know the kind of jobs they are going to do in Middle East,”Nambuya said recently.

“They want to appear as though they are doing the best jobs in the world but if problems come, it is difficult to help them.”

Nambuya added that most Ugandans prefer going through individuals other than licensed companies to Middle East but end up being duped by these individuals.

“They trust individuals more than they do with licensed companies because with the former, it is easy to be taken to Middle East but on a number of occasions the consequences are dire. In case of problems, those who went with individuals end up not being helped because the individuals are nowhere to be seen,” she said.

There are over 140,000 Ugandans working in Middle East countries.