Government to prioritize safety of Migrant workers
Aggrey Kibenge, the Ministry is to deploy about three labour attachés on their embassies to ensure that migrants that seek external labour are safe and those in distress are provided with the extra support they need.
Kimera Abdul 
In a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social development Mr. Aggrey Kibenge, the Ministry is to deploy about three labour attachés on their embassies to ensure that migrants that seek external labour are safe and those in distress are provided with the extra support they need.
According to the permanent secretary, the Ministry is committed to facilitate safe, productive and economically rewarding access to external employment through providing decent employment to the youth, protecting Ugandans abroad, improve on their welfare and also putting in place a mechanism for promoting safe migration.
“The Ministry is also currently on resumption of processing new external labour recruitment licenses” he added emphasizing that the Ministry’s External Employment Management Information System is almost complete and processing of new recruitment licenses is to resume on 1st February 2022.
The Ministry has currently licensed about 216 private external labour recruitment companies that have so far externalized 300,000 Ugandans to work abroad in Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait Iraq and many others since 2005.
In April 2019, the government of Uganda imposed of moratorium on licensing of new companies to address some challenges in the Externalization of labour program that had increased due to some stakeholders that had infiltrated to abuse the business.
The revision of the law culminating into the Employment Regulations ie the Statutory Instrument No.47 of 2021 that came into effect in August 2021 is the latest to be introduced to address some of the challenges in the program.
The statement also indicated that the Ministry has embarked on the signing and reviewing of Bilateral labour agreements with countries of destination for these workers and the Hon. Minister Betty Amongi will soon be visiting the state of Qatar soon to sign the 2017 negotiated Memorandum of Understanding.
The Ministry was also advised by the Cabinet to consider establishment of shelters to handle cases of Ugandans whose rights are violated and to institute effective monitoring measures especially in Saudi Arabia and UAE to curb the persistent outcry from Ugandans in those countries.
