Uganda’s Gender and Labour Ministry has been urged to speed up the process of putting in place a monitoring unit to look into the welfare of Ugandans working abroad under the labor externalisation program.
This unit according to stakeholders in the external labour business would be charged with following up on the working conditions of Ugandans and also handle disputes that would emerge.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Ms. Neelam Badoni, the General Manager Premier Recruitment says that if the monitoring unit of the ministry is put in place, the welfare of Ugandans working abroad would be better
“The ministry at the moment does not have a monitoring unit, they are still discussing 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 but as a company, it’s also our responsibility to have a good welfare and monitoring unit,” she explains.
Many Ugandans have complained about being abandoned while others have lost their lives with the latest being Philip Kule who was deployed by Premier Recruitment in Doha-Qatar to work as a guard on a two-year contract at 1 million shillings per month.
According to Badoni, the Body of Kule was repatriated by the company and his benefits were remitted to his next of kin as the company commiserates with the family over their bereaved son.
“Pursuant to the compliance of formalities, Premier Recruitment 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 they arrived on Tuesday, August 17th, 2021. We are devasted and grieve his sudden death,” a statement issued by premier recruitment reads.
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 says that Kule was healthy at the time he was taken since he underwent all the necessary health tests and was found to be safe.
Kule died on the 5th of this month(August,2021) in the hospital where 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. Badoni says that before his departure to Qatar on 9th June
“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 including doing so many things for his company and he was very happy when he was selected for this job at Qatar. We are sad that he has passed on and we commiserate with the family,” Badoni clarifies
This has been the first time that premier recruitment has registered death of a person they have taken abroad for work.
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