Two Middle East Consultants bosses convicted of attempting to traffic 50 migrant workers

KAMPALA, UGANDA: The International Crimes Division of the High Court has convicted two employees of Middle East Consultants company for attempting to traffic 50 migrant workers.

The convicts are Godfrey Kyalimpa, the Recruitment and Vetting Officer, and the General Manager, Benon Kunywana convicted on three charges, which include promoting trafficking and forgery of clearance lists.

Justice Richard Wejuli Wabwire convicted the duo after entering into a plea bargain with the state, accepting the charges in exchange for a lighter sentence. He ordered each of the convicts to pay a fine of 5 million Shillings or face three years of imprisonment in default.

“Each convict is to pay a fine of Shs2 million on each account of promoting trafficking or risk two years imprisonment. While the count of forgery a fine of Shs3 million or three years imprisonment,” Justice Wabwire held.

State prosecution states that on February 12, 2019, at Entebbe International Airport in Wakiso District, Kyalimpa and Kunywana attempted to traffic fifty migrant workers.
It is also alleged that on the same day, they forged an official document, a clearance list for migrant workers, purportedly signed by Lawrence Egulu, the Commissioner of Employment Services from the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development.

However, Egulu discovered that his signature had been scanned onto the document without his involvement.

Further investigations revealed that the list of 277 migrant workers had been generated and the signature forgery facilitated by both Kyalimpa and Kunywana during their employment at Middle East Consultants Company. The Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development confirmed that only 227 workers had been cleared, not 277.

The case was successfully prosecuted by Senior State Attorney Jacquelyn Okui from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who also serves as the Public Relations Officer.