By Micheal Atwakiire
Sheema:Minister for tourism Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu aka ‘Ekikonda njojo’, who is also the Member of Parliament Sheema South constituency, has urged parents never to allow their children to go abroad looking for jobs, saying that it is hell.
During an exclusive interview with him on Wednesday morning in Shuuku town council, Sheema district , Kamuntu said “Oh boy, oh boy ! I say this as a parent and as a patriotic leader; whoever still loves his or her child or relative or friend, never allow them to go to foreign countries for a job through these companies that export labor.
I have been hearing that our children suffer a lot in the UAE but I had never confirmed it until recently when I was at the Ugandan embassy in United Arab Emirates, where I witnessed thousands of Ugandans sobbing and begging for help.
Leaving Uganda to go abroad for a job through these companies I usually hear advertising themselves is like escaping from a hot saucepan and falling in an oven; it’s total hell. Some have been brought back dead and we observed that they died because they were used as spare parts; after Ugandans breaching UAE their internal organs are removed from their bodies and sold to white people. What kind of hell is this!”
Kamuntu urged fellow politicians who are involved in labor exportation to stop it with immediate effect. “I’m dearly surprised by some parents; how can someone put your child into unending trouble but thereafter you vote for him or her? Those politicians who say that they want to combat unemployment problems in Uganda ; instead of taking our children to Arab Emirates , let them start factories, industries or other business ventures in Uganda such that they can employ them in their own country.
By the way it isn’t true that we don’t have jobs in Uganda , we have so many but our education system is the one letting us down. Our schools produce half-baked graduates with inadequate skills needed by employers. I therefore ask myself; if a Ugandan employer can’t employ that half-baked graduate , do you think developed countries which we lust for like those in Arab Emirates can employ him or her ?That’s why after Ugandans reaching there , they are seen as residues .” Kamuntu noted.
He added that government has started a campaign of skilling all Ugandans especially starting with secondary school students such that by the time they reach university level each of them will be able to manufacture something on their own .
