Many labour exporters, according to Otafiire, have been using clinics to get fake results which they use to take people to work abroad. Once the laborers reach countries like Saudi Arabia, Otafiire says some are taken to other places for instance Thailand where their organs are extracted and then they become food for crocodiles.
The minister
for internal affairs, Maj Gen (rtd) Kahinda Otafiire, has said he is determined
to take drastic measures to ensure that Ugandans going for external labour are
protected from illegal extraction of their internal organs.
Otafiire who was responding to Uganda Radio Network's enquiry why of all hospitals in the country
he chose Victoria Hospital to conduct comprehensive internal organ testing for
all those going for external labour, said he has been getting reports of
Ugandans who are taken under the guise of employment but end up being subjected to
criminal organ removal and their dead bodies fed to crocodiles.
Many labour
exporters, according to Otafiire have been using clinics to get fake results
which they use to take people to work abroad. Once the laborers reach countries
like Saudi Arabia, Otafiire says some are taken to other places for instance
Thailand where their organs are extracted and then they become food for crocodiles.
“Your job for
exporting is to make money; while you are making money, my job is to protect
Ugandans," OTafiire said. "You can’t sell Ugandans when we are looking on. On this, there is no
compromise. They just take you to Saudi Arabia, move you to some other place
like Thailand, harvest your heart, kidney or liver and throw the body to
crocodiles. And you want me to hear that and keep quiet? There I will not go to
heaven.”
Nevertheless,
Otafiire did not provide numbers of Ugandans believed to have lost their body organs to
traffickers or have been killed and fed to crocodiles. In addition, Otafiire
did not comprehensively name the places where body organ harvesting is
taking place so that they can be avoided.
//cue in “your
job…//
Cue out “…go
to heaven,”//
Judith
Nakintu is one of the females who was returned in October last year with the
right kidney missing and she is currently in a vegetative state in Mityana
district. Martha Apio from Pallisa went to work in Saudi Arabia in 2018 but to
date, her family members do not know whether she is still alive or dead.
Such incidents,
according to Otafiire, explain that labour exporters are just after
making money at the expense of Ugandan lives. Otafiire has promised to do
whatever is within his means to protect Ugandans who have been targeted for
internal organs.
He warns there
will be no compromise with any labour exporter who will not follow the criteria
his ministry is setting up to regulate labour export industry. Otafiire in May
this year issued a directive to labour exporters to start taking their clients
to Victoria Hospital for comprehensive body organ testing.
//cue in “we
are…//
Cue out “…Airport,”//
However,
Ronnie Mukundane, the spokesperson for Uganda Association for External Recruitment
Agencies, said it is not possible to get fakeresults because the clinics
they use to test all people going for external labour were certified by the
Gulf Cooperation Council –GCC.
//cue in “the
labour companies…//
Cue out “…are
fit”//
Mukundane
insists instead that it Victoria Hospital as far as they know is not among those that were certified by GCC
and therefore they cannot take their clients there. But Otafiire says at the time he
issued his May letter, it was only Victoria hospital that met the criteria for
comprehensive organ testing. The minister adds that they have given chance all
other medical facilities in the country to meet the requirements.
Joseph Kato is currently a Master's candidate at Makerere University. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication from Kampala International University, a Diploma in Journalism and he's also a graduate in Guidance and Counseling.
