Labour export firms to Parliament- We hired Musoke

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Association of External Recruitment Agencies-UAERA have clarified the air on the status of Yassin Abdul Aziz Musoke, saying he is their consultant in the Middle East. Musoke is the Labor Liaison officer  in Uganda’s Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia having been appointed in 2018.

On Monday, a group of legislators demanded investigations into the mismanagement of the external labor monitoring fund by Musoke. The legislators alleged that statements from Stanbic Bank indicated that 185 labour export companies pay US$ 70 for each laborer on two private account numbers belonging to Musoke.

However, Andrew Tumwine Kameraho, the chairperson UAERA, says the US$ 70 goes to the association accounts and not Musoke’s private account. He says Musoke is just their consultant they hired in 2017 to help them monitor the laborer abroad.

He says Musoke was a suitable candidate because he was living in Saudi Arabia, knew Arabic and was a private businessman who could offer the service they needed.

He says the money is used to run association activities like training of labor and monitor the status of the workers abroad. UAERA works with laborers in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which have a labor agreement with Uganda.

In 2016, government banned exportation of domestic labor due to rampant reports indicating torture of the exported workers. However, the ban the was lifted a year later on condition that mechanisms be put in place to ensure safe labor exportation and respect for rights of worker.

Consequently, Uganda signed labor agreements with Saudi Arabia. Uganda already had an arrangement with Jordan signed in 2016. Tumwine says that it is upon the same background that they established an emergency Fund that would run operations of the transit center at Entebbe and recipient countries, support emergency medical services and repatriation and provision of psycho-social support and legal aid.

Musoke, according to Tumwine manages several reception centers where workers are received when they arrive at their destination countries and where workers can go in case they need help. Tumwine explains that Musoke is their main contact person who also responds to complaints from workers under UAERA.

Tumwine says the fund is run solely by UAERA and nothing to do with the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development or the government in general.

Noah Herman Mayambala, the UAERA General Secretary, says they have been able to handle several complaints due to the monitoring system mainly manned by Musoke and his team.

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