The Deputy Attorney General, ‘Jackson Kafuuzi’, has met with the Senior Presidental Advisor on Diaspora Affairs, Amb. ‘Abbey Walusimbi’ in order to discuss the issues which are “Labour Externalization”.
The recently appointed the Amb. Walusimbi, in a bid to help in the ongoing verification process for the realism of the different labour externalization companies in Uganda.
On Saturday, both principals met to discuss the matter further.
They discussed the need for a collective approach towards labour harmonization externalization during the meeting. The Deputy Attorney General suggested the need to know the country for their best practices in labour externalization and benchmark to adopt the measures that made their stories a success.
According to Kafuuzi, no law can be amended if these modifications provide a better solution to the existing problems. “We are happy and open to engaging the concerned parties to draft laws that protect our citizens who seek work abroad.” These licensed companies give them these opportunities and the interests of the state.
To answer the response, Amb. Walusimbi stated that the information collected so far, that the companies which carry license had shown their willingness in order to follow the processes and guidelines that the Ministry makes of Gender, Labour, and Social Development, which includes stationing liaison personnel at the companies in the Middle East where Ugandans children are compelled to work.
He further stated that the liaison personnel act is the primary act to contact Ugandans, especially when they have challenges with their employers.
On the issue of the Ugandan embassy not interfering in case of distress calls by Ugandans in the Middle East, Walusimbi spoke. However, the embassy is responsible for all citizens in its jurisdiction; many illegally enter the countries.
“Labour externalization is an essential as well as a Presidential project through which presidential Museveni aimed to give better lives of his bazzukulu by giving them a good exposure to other ways of living so that they can bring home better attitudes and expertise.”That is the only reason the government put in place clear procedures with regulations through their ministries to ensure that the embassy can easily trace all the citizens who travel from abroad to work. If they want any help, they can provide them. Although, when someone takes entry into the country without government knowledge and does not report to the embassy, it is hard to know that they are in space, as stated by Walusimbi.
Amb. Walusimbi urged the migrant workers to practice the skills they acquired during the 14 days of pre-departure training and have an attitude to learn from the people they interact with.
