By Badreldeen khalaf
In the aftermath of the recent repercussions of the illegal demonstration carried out by a small group of young people in front of the Saudi embassy building in Kololo, claiming that their families were killed and tortured in Saudi Arabia; many sources denied that what the group said was incorrect and contradicted the facts.
In this regard, Kampala police described the demonstration as illegal and unauthorized. Indeed, some have wondered what these groups are striving for.
Only a small fraction of Ugandans working in Middle East are suffering, says Museveni advisor, speaking to journalists during the launch of the run to highlight the plight of Ugandans in the Middle East. Moreover, he said that the situation is not as bad as is being portrayed.
In the Middle East, we have more than 600,000 migrant workers, the majority working in Saudi Arabia. More than 200,000 Ugandans working in Saudi Arabia and UAE, those who do not complete contracts are less than 10% and those suffering are less than 5%, which means that our sisters and brothers are doing a good job,”Walusimbi said.
He noted that on several occasions, the media has been fed with wrong information regarding the plight of Ugandans working in the Middle East but insisted that some of them are not factual.
“We have discovered that some of the videos that trend on social media platforms are not as authentic as they are portrayed to be. To you (the media), you have a collective responsibility to serve the communities responsibly by feeding them factual information without prejudice.
I urge you to be impartial in your reporting and endeavor to thoroughly verify your sources before presenting any information to your audience.”
Interventions
Amb. Walusimbi said that after the intervention led by President Museveni in the operations of the labour externalization industry, a series of activities have taken place to help streamline the industry to ensure Ugandan migrant workers are protected.
The information given by the president’s adviser to journalists is consistent with many Ugandan official information, including the Ugandan Ministry of Labor, which indicates that the problems that occur are very few compared to the total employment volume, which is estimated to be more than 200 thousand workers, and there are a lot of success stories for these workers reflecting their good conditions
On 19-7-2022, the Daily Montour daily newspaper monitored through the “reader’s comments” page a lot of success stories of female workers in Saudi Arabia and in a few years, including those who bought a plot of land and those who built a house for housing and for rent, in addition to many other success stories monitored by the newspaper.
Uganda and Saudi Arabia are linked by an employment agreement that will discuss the issues and problems related the labor as well as opportunities for the development and the improvement of the agreement so as to achieve the mutual benefit for the two countries.
Friendly relations between Saudi Arabia and Uganda have grown and developed over the years, deepened by common interests, mutual benefit and strengthened by mutual visits. Those relations are witnessing increasing cooperation in the fields of Defense, economy, science and society.
Indeed, the two countries have worked jointly in multilateral arenas on regional and international issues, as they share a common membership in the United Nations (UN) and the organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Recently, Saudi Arabia embassy has solved problems of many Ugandan workers who have had some accidents, despite the fact that this measure is not within its competence, but it reflects its interest and keenness on the safety of Labor and improving its conditions, and in appreciation of the strong fraternal and friendly relations between the two countries.
Recently, the embassy of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Uganda has provided many forms of humanitarian support to the Ugandan people, such as contributing to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in the karamoja region, which was provided by the embassy on the twenty-first of last July and received by the prime minister, and also provided more than six different food support campaigns to help those in need and support for relations between the two countries, as well as providing monthly support to those in need, in addition its relief during Ramadan and other seasons.
The Saudi Arabia supported the launch of the Islamic Development Bank, in which it owns more than 25% to support the Ugandan economy in both government and private sectors. Moreover, three development projects worth about 300 million dollar have been approved and the tender is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2022.
Many observers believe that it is wise to take advantage of the experiences and expertise of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the fields of oil, financial system, combating terrorism, developing commercial systems, training employees and workers, reducing unemployment and increasing the number of entrants to the Saudi labor market.
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