EXCLUSIVE: A section of unnamed officials in the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development are blaming First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Mrs. Janet K Museveni for the escalating unemployment in the country.
The officials say that the First Lady’s directive not to reopen learning centers for trainees seeking employment outside the country through legitimate labour externalization firms has had a huge impact on the growing employment curve.
“The learning centers don’t have the same curriculum as schools. They are simply taught how to deal with the new environment,” Trumpet News quotes an official in the gender ministry. “We don’t know why the First Lady would allow this to happen when our youth are fighting with unemployment,” the official added.
The Ministry’s commissioner in charge of labour Mr. Lawrence Egulu shut down all training facilities which the private companies had opened to equip workers with skills before they travel to the Middle East countries for employment.
Due to the growing demand for domestic workers in these Middle East nations, labour externalization companies in Uganda opened up training centers to pass on the required skills to potential candidates who would work abroad.
However, the learning centers were closed following President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s directive while implementing the second lockdown to mitigate the spread of the second wave of COVID19.
Whereas the president lifted the lockdown and the labour externalization business resumed, the gender ministry has refused to reopen the training centers for domestic workers; officials maintain that an order came from the ministry of education which is headed by the First Lady.
“The learning centers don’t have the same curriculum as schools. They are simply taught how to deal with the new environment,” said an official in the Gender Ministry who preferred anonymity to his name.
“We don’t know why the First Lady would allow this to happen when our youth are fighting with unemployment,” another official added.
According to sources, it is alleged that Mr. Egulu was told that some managers of labour firms that they will not follow SoPs if they are allowed to resume business.
The Ministry’s spokesperson Frank Mugabi told this website that officials are implementing President Museveni’s instruction. “Closure of learning centers was a directive by the President,” he responded us when contacted.
Ketty Lamaro, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education didn’t have a response when reached. She instead referred us to the Ministry’s spokesperson who was not available by press time.
It remains a fact that the government of Uganda earns $1.4 billion from labour exporting business and Saudi Arabia remains one of the bigger markets for Ugandan migrant workers.
This website has learned that continuous closure of learning centers has encouraged forgery of certificates and fuelled human trafficking after perpetrators bribe all officials in the relevant ministry.
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