The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, has castigated government for failing to fight human trafficking.
“Last year, we had stopped government from allowing what they call domestic workers to go out. We thought we can allow those who want jobs as drivers and bankers,” Ms Kadaga said yesterday.
She was meeting Catholic nuns under their umbrella, Association of the Religious in Uganda, who petitioned the Speaker against increasing cases of torture and slavery of Ugandan labourers abroad.
Ms Kadaga said efforts by Parliament have been failed by conflicting interests of high profile government officials.
“Unfortunately, a number of people in government own labour export companies and I am told it is very lucrative so they continued,” Ms Kadaga said.
She also castigated the Ministry of Gender for entering into agreements with human-receiving-countries for labour export without Parliament’s knowledge.
The Speaker said Parliament’s earlier position to ban exportation of labour would prevail over situations where Ugandans are taken to foreign countries without clear destinations, working hours and payments as well as defined supervision mechanisms.
Speaking on behalf of the nuns, Sister Theresa Namataka said they were prompted by disheartening acts of dehumanising Ugandan youth, especially those taken as labourers in foreign countries.
“As Christians and especially religious women called to serve our sisters and brothers and promote their dignity as God’s children, we feel compelled to speak out and work towards the restoration of human dignity lost through these dehumanising activities in our country,” Sr Namataka said.
She said human trafficking must be checked since it exposes victims to “untold torture, sexual abuse and slavery.”
“Some of our daughters are trafficked abroad and forced to have sex with animals, while some are killed for organ transplant,” she added.
As an interim measure, Ms Kadaga said there should be a collaborative approach where religious leaders directly participate in awakening a gullible population.
She also called for an attitude shift by the girls, encouraging them to start taking on technical jobs perceived to be for men.
