Another family in Masaka is seeking to return the body of their daughter, Zaituni Zawedde who died in Saudi Arabia, where she was working as a domestic worker.
Zawedde joins a growing list of Ugandans who have lost their lives in the Middle East countries, where they had sought jobs. Some activists blame the government for withdrawing the licenses of some recruitment agencies, without a clear plan of monitoring workers still employed abroad.
On the 20th January 2022, 23 years old Zaituni Zawedde who hailed from Masaka died from Saudi Arabia where she had been working as a domestic worker.
Zawedde was taken to Saudi Arabia by Forbes Enterprises Limited and her contract was set to expire this month, with the hope of returning to Uganda in March 2022, according to family members.
“We want to know what caused my sister’s death. I had talked to her and she never told me she was ill,” Zawedde’s sister said in a local TV interview.
“We were expecting her to return in March. We were shocked that she died at the end of her contract,” another Family member said.
The family’s constant appeals to Forbes Enterprises Limited to help return Zawedde’s body for proper burial have been fruitless with the company referring them to the government.
According to Abdullah Kayondo the president, Migrant Workers’ Voice, the government had suspended the company’s license leaving those recruited by Forbes enterprises Limited in an uncertain situation.
The pain of getting employment in the country has pushed many to seek for opportunities elsewhere.
About 12,000 Ugandans leave for the Middle East annually in search of employment, according to government data.
However, for a while there have been a number of complaints on how Ugandans die abroad.
There also has been a debate in the Public on the measures the government is putting in place to solve the issue.
“Why are the bodies increasing in number, isn’t the government concerned to understand this, to come up and do something? What is killing our own all the time and seems as if there is traffic because you have seen the trafficked in Dubai also calling for support,” Kayondo the president, migrant workers’ voice said.
Kayondo added that it is only the government that can end this problem.
The Minister of state for Labor Betty Among has also come out and talked about the matter requesting that government should step in to help bring back the concerned Ugandans if the company’s license has been suspended.
“Just last week when I returned, I came back with 40 girls so if they have lost and the company is closed kindly come to the ministry of gender, labor and social development and ask for the commissioner in charge of the employment services,” Among said.