Ugandan girls held in Oman, company demands Shs14m

Kampala. Two Ugandan girls trafficked through Kenya to Oman are being held by a recruiting agency on grounds that it be refunded money it paid to their trafficker.
The girls, who were trafficked through Kenya, also face jail if they fail to meet the conditions set by their captors before they can be sent back home. This is despite their deteriorating health conditions, including, one reportedly having a rotting breast.
Daily Monitor understands that the trafficker identified as Issa Kisekka of Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District, was paid more than $4,000 (about Shs14 million) by the Oman-based agency for the two girls. He reportedly takes at least Shs1m from each of the girls before he takes them to the Middle East for work.
The two, Resty Namusisi, 24, and Joyce Nanyonjo, 20, are reportedly held in a safe house in Muscat, the capital of Oman, with options, including working until their contract expires, paying back the money given to the trafficker or contacting their parents back in Uganda to each refund $2,000 (about Shs7m). “Sorry brother, the sponsor will make [report] her and or the office in the court and they put her in jail,” an official of the agency tells the Ugandan trafficker in leaked exchanges seen by Daily Monitor. We have been informed that Uganda police anti-trafficking authorities were informed about the matter but did not take any action beyond asking the relatives of the two young women to pay the money.
“You have passed the information; tell the relatives to come to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. If they have challenges of transportation, I can take care of that so that we get information from the real people who are responsible,” Mr Moses Binoga, the commissioner of Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, said.
“Because at a certain time, the relatives will be required to contribute money to have their relatives return because the government does not have money for paying their fines and we can’t force the government of Oman without respecting their laws,” he added.
Ms Nanyonjo, in a telephone interview, explained that they were not told about the terms and conditions of their work in Oman. This, she said, only became clear after asking to return to Uganda.
“We worked for eight months and Namusisi fell sick and me I was fed up of the home where I had been taken to work following a series of sexual abuses I was subjected to,” she explained.
In a correspondence seen by this newspaper, Mr Kisekka tells the girls that he has handled many such cases. He advises them to work and complete their contracts because their employers will not hear their pleas.
“In fact it is the same case in Jordan; I have such girls who want to return but they cannot allow you to return unless you pay the money they invested in you and you buy your ticket back home,” he says.
It is understood that the recruiting agency identified as Al-Rakha’a Manpower in Muscat Oman paid Mr Kisekka to recruit girls on its behalf. For each girl, the company pays $2,000(7.3m) on condition that it is refunded incase a girl fails to either meet standards or work as agreed.
Ms Miriam Mwiiza, a human rights activist who tried to pursue the matter, said one Sayed Majeed, who works for the recruitment agency in Muscat, told her that he will continue torturing the girls until their families raise the money.
“I called him via IMO and he said he will torture them and when they are about to die, he will deport or kill them,” she said.