Only a small fraction of  Ugandans working in Middle East are suffering ,says Museveni advisor

The senior presidential advisor on diaspora affairs, Amb. Abbey Walusimbi has said contrary to reports , only a small fraction of Ugandans working in the Middle East are suffering.

Of late, there have been several reports both in the mainstream media and on social media of the mistreatment and suffering of Ugandans working in the Middle East, with many reported to have been physically assaulted and sexually abused.

Speaking to journalists during the launch of the run to highlight the plight of Ugandans in the Middle East, Walusimbi said the situation is not as bad as is being portrayed.

“In the Middle East, we have more than 600,000 migrant workers with the majority working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Out of the over 200,000 Ugandans working in Saudi Arabia and UAE, those who do not complete contracts are less than 10% and those suffering are less than 5%, which means that our sisters and brothers are doing a good job,”Walusimbi said.

He noted that on several occasions, the media has been fed with wrong information regarding the plight of Ugandans working in the Middle East but insisted that some of it is not factual.

“We have discovered that some of the videos that trend on social media platforms are not as authentic as they are portrayed to be.To you the media, you have a collective responsibility to serve the communities responsibly by feeding them factual information without prejudice. I urge you to be impartial in your reporting and endeavor to verify your sources to the core before presenting any information to your audience.”

Interventions

Amb. Walusimbi said that following the intervention by President Museveni in the operations of the labour externalization industry, a series of activities have taken place to help streamline the industry to ensure Ugandan migrant workers are protected.

“The intervention started with an audit of the licensed labour externalisation companies and accredited training centers back in March before  we held a high-level symposium on labour externalisation also  followed by a few working trips to the different destination countries where our nationals work especially in Saudi Arabia and engagement of the different stakeholders here,”Walusimbi said.

He noted that in some of these processes, it was founded out that some Ugandan return home to nothing despite having worked hard and under difficult conditions in the Middle East after their money is swindled by relatives.

“Some of Ugandans return without a penny and some are not in the right health state to be reincorporated into society because the society has labeled them some sort of ATM machines that are meant to just send money home regardless of their situation, without which they are considered useless or failures.”

Walusimbi said that the run will help create awareness about the plight of Ugandans working abroad by highlighting the different success stories and milestones achieved by multiple stakeholders within the industry and further support the channels that help reintegrate them.

“At the end of the run, the office of the president will direct the collections from kits towards supporting the reception centers that help reintegrate the returnees.”

“Each of us has a family member, friend or acquaintance who is or has ever worked abroad and more specifically in the gulf region, therefore we have a collective responsibility to support and protect our brothers and sisters working abroad because they have a right to just and fair treatment.”

He noted that the run will be held on October, 2, 2022 at Kololo independence grounds with Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja as the chief runner.