BIG STORY: Ugandan maid loses kidney in Saudi Arabia

Background

Judith Nakintu, 38, a single mother of five, found herself in an economic dilemma. She always looked for means of looking after her children after separating from her husband.

She worked as a food vendor in a busy evening market in Mubende town but, in 2019, she was recruited by Nile Treasure Gate Company, based in Kiwatule, a city suburb, as a housemaid to work in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She flew to Jeddah on December 12, 2019.

However, after two months on the job, according to the first information the family obtained, she was involved in an accident, although no details were given. Her younger brother, Robert Kadichi, said, at first, she was communicating with her family until she went silent.

They later received information about her condition on March 17, 2020, that she was in critical condition. They tried to seek further details from her boss. 

According to Kadichi, the employer informed them about the accident and they asked him to send them photographs of her, but he blocked them. They used different phone contacts to call him, but he declined to speak to anyone. 

They later approached Sulaiman Abubakar Kato, the director of Nile Treasure Gate Company, to help them access their sister. He said the director was at first co-operative, but he also later cut off contact. 

For some time there was no information about Nakintu’s condition, until October 30, last year, when they received a call from the company that Nakintu would land at Entebbe International Airport. 

They also got information that during the 18 months of her ill health, her boss had rented a warehouse where he kept her and was being looked after by another Ugandan woman, only identified as Janifer. 

According to Kadichi, Janifer told the family, on arrival at Entebbe, that during the 18 months, Nakintu’s employer sought compensation from an insurance company in Jeddah and she was paid sh600m, which was allegedly wired to her company.

Mysterious surgery 

The family was, however, not allowed to meet Nakintu and she was taken to Mulago National Referral Hospital for medical check-up. It was at Mulago that they learnt that she underwent a ‘mysterious surgery’ while in Jeddah and that her right kidney was missing. 

According to Kadichi, it was a trying moment when the family met Nakintu at the facility. Her left side was paralysed and she could not speak well, although she recognised them. 

The family members were, however, shocked when the first CT scan results indicated that she was in normal state, yet she had unexplained surgery scars on her abdomen. 

He said they had seen medical letters from Jeddah, explaining her condition and that they were contradictory. 

Contradicting scans 

They took her to her grandmother, Angella Perus Nakangu of Kirombe Luzira in Kampala, but two family doctors intervened and took her back to Mulago Hospital, where another CT scan was conducted. 

According to findings done at the Casualty CT scan unit, signed by radiologist Dr Sharif Kikomeko and dated November 1, 2021, Nakintu’s right renal bed is empty. 

The doctor concluded that the “features are of an absent right kidney. No evidence of the other abdominal pathology”.  The letter indicated that Nakintu’s other internal organs were not tampered with.

Family, agency speak out 

Nakangu said her granddaughter was living a pathetic life, unable to help herself due to the paralysis. 

“She hoped to earn a better living but she was returned in this condition and no explanation was given. We now have to help her do everything,” she said, adding that Nakintu’s five children were out of school. 

Her sister, Justine Nakato, appealed to the Government to task the company that took her abroad with answering for her condition. 

Abdallah Kayonde, the president of the Migrant Workers’ Voice, said the family lawyers approached them for intervention. 

When contacted, Sulaiman Abubakar Kato, the director of Nile Treasure Gate Company, said the company was approached by Nakintu’s lawyers, listing many complaints and concerns about her condition, but that the company wrote back, defending themselves about the allegations. 

He, however, refused to share the defence letter and referred us to the family lawyers. 

Kayonde also declined to share their defence. 

Kato also declined to comment on information from the gender ministry that his company was last December suspended, together with 15 others, on accusations of forgery of training reports. 

However, Frank Mugabi, the ministry’s spokesperson, confirmed that the company was suspended and was still under investigation. 

He, however, noted that the ministry had not received any formal complaint from Nakintu’s family and advised them to write to the permanent secretary. 

In December last year, the ministry suspended 15 labour externalisation companies for non-compliance and alleged flouting of the recruitment and export guidelines. 

The firms were allegedly indulging in defrauding job seekers of huge sums of money and forging documents, including COVID-19 test results, for applicants and training documents.

Other victims 

Another Ugandan migrant worker, Milly Namazzi, 26, a mother of two from Kagezi in Kimaanya-Kabonera division, Masaka city, recently died in Egypt after her employer allegedly mistreated her and transferred her from Saudi Arabia. 

The family suspects foul play and accuses the company, Dreams Connect Company, of allegedly failing to help them repatriate the body. 

The family also disputed information that Namazzi died in an accident after she sent several audio recordings complaining that her life was in imminent danger. 

Shadia Najjuuko, 31, is also said to have died in June last year and was buried in Saudi Arabia, but her family demanded that the body be repatriated. 

Col Edith Nakalema, the former head of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, intervened in many cases involving migrant workers, including forcing companies to help them to return home. 

Rebecca Ahimbisibwe recently escaped after she learnt that she was ‘sold’ to a home where she would work without pay. Nakalema compelled the company, Narrissa Group Uganda Limited, to repatriate her.

Shs3.185 trillion 

Uganda earns sh3.185 trillion (about $900m) per year from remittances from Ugandans working in the Middle East. According to information from the gender ministry, at least 84,879 migrant workers sought jobs in the Middle East last year alone, with the majority preferring Saudi Arabia, which received 75,873 Ugandans. 

Other preferred countries included Qatar with 3,991 and 3,368 to the United Arab Emirates (Dubai). Others went to Iraq, Bahrain, Jordan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Somalia and Poland. 

Sources indicated that 9,967 migrant workers moved to the Middle East in 2010 and the number had increased three-fold, totalling 28,233 by end of April 2021. 

It was reported that at least 98% of Ugandans seeking jobs abroad in the Middle East were recruited as casual labourers, including housemaids, cleaners and caretakers of old persons, among others. 

Medical expert explains

Dr Peace Bagasha, a healthcare practitioner, specialising as a physician (nephrologist), advised the family to seek the services of a general physician and later a neurologist (a specialist who treats diseases of the brain and spinal cord, peripheral nerves and muscles) to confirm whether her paralysis is connected to the removal of her kidney. 

She said some people are born with one kidney and they live a normal life. 

She also said since she is a mother, she can use her antenatal ultra sound scan that has information that indicates whether she ever had two kidneys or one. 

According to the doctor, the scars on her abdomen may not necessarily mean that her kidney was removed but an expert should do another check-up to confirm whether the surgery was connected to the removal of her kidney. 

She said the paralysis could as well be a result of the surgery due to another problem that damaged her nerves. 

Human organ black market 

There is a concern about an existing and increasing black market for human organs and organ trafficking, including human kidneys. The trade is said to involve syndicated cartels that extract human organs from patients for sale to local collaborators who, in turn, find market abroad, including the Middle East. 

Other victims are Ugandans desperate for employment who, are reportedly trafficked abroad, promising them good jobs only to admit them to healthcare facilities where their organs are removed. 

Some victims are compensated with little money, forced on the planes and die in the process. The culprits are always labour export companies, managers of orphanages, medical workers and immigration officials, among others.

Story adapted from NewVision as authored by Eddie Ssejjoba