State House, police arrest labour exporters

Lt Col Edith Nakalema

Kampala- Police, in collaboration with State House Anti-Corruption Unit, has arrested two senior officials of Middle East Consultants Ltd, a labour export company, for allegedly defrauding 27 youth of Shs51 billion after promising them employment in the Middle East.

The officials also face charges of torturing the boys and girls who attempted to do a follow up on their claims. One of the officials was accused of trafficking girls.

The accused were paraded before journalists at the Anti-Corruption Unit offices in Kampala yesterday.

The Head of State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Lt Col Edith Nakalema, said: “Labour externalisation of Ugandans has been going on and on July 17, we launched an investigation into the complaints that involve 27 youth. We have got a list of 30 companies in labour externalisation involved in the mistreatment of Ugandans. Four of these are the key players in the suffering of Ugandans,” she said.

Lt Col Nakalema added that government recently intercepted 27 girls who were about to be trafficked by one of the officials.
She added that the company has for the last two years refused to refund the youth’s money.
Lt Col Nakalema added that they are ready to charge officials in four of the seven companies that are currently under investigation.
The Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police spokesperson, Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, disclosed that one of the officials was arrested with forged documents as he proceeded with plans to traffick 27 girls.

However, one of the paraded suspects refuted allegations of torturing the claimants and they were in the process of paying out Shs27 million yesterday, and that the balance was to be cleared on Friday.

One of the victims, Mr Lawrence Kibira, revealed that the two officials have tortured them.
Ms Lillian Nambooze, another victim, revealed that she demands Shs4 million from the employment firm. One of the victims showed injuries that he suffered due to the alleged torture.