Labour export firms want government to establish unit to look into welfare of Ugandans abroad

Players in the labour export industry have urged the ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development to expedite the process of putting in place a monitoring unit to look into the welfare of Ugandans working abroad.

This unit would be charged with following up on the working conditions for those Ugandans and also handle disputes that would emerge.

The general manager, Premier Recruitment, Neelam Badoni said that if the monitoring unit of the ministry is put in place, welfare of Ugandans working abroad would be better

“The ministry at the moment does not have a monitoring unit, they are still discussing it internally but they should put up the unit very quickly. During the last lockdown, there were many challenges of welfare for Ugandans in different countries. But as a company we have a monitoring unit that follows up all issues and we are going to support them," Badoni said.

Many Ugandans abroad have complained about being abandoned while others have lost their lives.

The latest is Philip Kule who was deployed by Premier Recruitment in Doha-Qatar to work as a guard on a two year contract at Shs 1 million per month.

Badoni said Kule's body has been repatriated by the company and his benefits have been paid out to his relatives.

"Pursuant to the compliance of formalities, Premier Recruiment Ltd with the help of the ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development, the Ugandan embassy in Qatar and Compass Catering Services, we have ensured that the body of Kule is returned home. His remains were received by his relative Dovico Muhindo after it arrived on Tuesday August 17th 2021. We are devastated and grieve about his sudden death," Badoni said, according to a statement.

Before Kule was deployed in Qatar to work for Compass Catering Services in June this year, he worked as a security guard in Kampala. Badoni said that Kule was healthy at the time he went abroad since he underwent all the necessary health tests and was found to be safe.

Kule died on August 5 in hospital were he had been rushed after suddenly collapsing while on duty. A postmortem carried out by Dr Muhamed H, Al-Thani of the Public Health department in Doha concluded that he succumbed to a heart attack.

"He was fit for this job and he was so excited for this job and when he came to us, we saw that he needed to achieve many dreams We are sad that he has passed on and we commiserate with the family," Badoni said.