The Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development has been called upon to urged to speed up the process of putting in place a monitoring unit to look into the welfare of Ugandans working abroad under the externalisation of labor.
This was revealed on Wednesday August 18, 2021 by Ms Badoni Neelam the Premier Recruitment General Manager. She advised that if the monitoring unit under the ministry is put in place, welfare of Ugandans working abroad would be better.
According to stake holders, the unit would be charged with following up on the working conditions for those Ugandans and also handle disputes that would emerge.
“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 is also our responsibility to have a good welfare and monitoring unit,” Neelam Said.
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 Shs1 million per month.
According to Badoni the Body of Kule has been repatriated by the company and his benefits paid out to his relatives.
“Pursuant to the compliance of formalities, Premier Recruitment Limited with the help of the Ministry of Gender Labour 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 it arrived on Tuesday August 17, 2021. We are devastated 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 August 5,2021 in hospital were he had been rushed after suddenly collapsing while on duty . An post-mortem carried out by Dr Muhamed H, AL-Thani of the public health department in Doha concluded that he succumbed to a heart attack. Badoni said he departed to Qatar on June 9.
“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 the Qatar. We are sad that he has passed on and we commiserate with the family “ Badoni said.
This has been the first time that Premier Recruitment has registered a deaths of a person abroad for work.
