The Speaker made this call after the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Gen. Henry Tumukunde presented a statement on the alleged trafficking and detention of three Ugandans in Thailand.
This was at the House sitting on Wednesday, 26 August 2026.
The statement was prompted by a concern raised by Soroti City Woman Representative, Hon. Joan Alobo on Wednesday, 08 July 2026 where she stated that Amon Kisaakye, David Musajja and Samuel Kusiima travelled to Thailand through a labour recruitment agency but later lost contact with their family members.
The Speaker urged the House to enhance the budget of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to enable it assign labour attachés abroad.
“It should be in the interest of government to have representatives abroad, from the Ministry of Gender. Because of commercial and defence attachés, we are able to collaborate in those fields, so we need persons to handle labour issues,” said Oboth.
Tumukunde said the case of the three Ugandans was a result of trafficking in persons noting that the said labour agency, Result Recruitment Company is not licensed and did not appear in the database of the External Employment Management System run by the ministry.
“The ministry has previously received reports of Ugandans being trafficked to South East Asian countries of Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. No licensed company has been found to be externalising Ugandans to these countries. This matter should be investigated by Police and the Anti-Trafficking Unit under the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” the minister said.
He added that the ministry is carrying out an operation with the Uganda Police Force to reign in on non-licensed labour recruitment companies and that media awareness campaigns are being undertaken to encourage Ugandans to travel abroad for work through safe labour migration.
Jonam County MP, Hon. Alenyo Marshall reiterated the Speaker’s proposal alluding to a move by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to assign immigration officers to support Ugandans abroad, which enabled easy access to immigration services.
“When we sent these officers to different countries, immigration got some sobriety. If Uganda sends labour attachés, they will specifically track our people because all countries with these officers have a low record of complaints,” Marshall said.
Workers Representative, Hon. Rwakajara Arinaitwe said labour attachés will go a long way in monitoring the legitimacy of jobs offered under labour externalisation companies adding that many Ugandans who have been promised professional jobs end up doing informal jobs.
“The Ministry of Gender needs to work with all stakeholders to ensure that the process of labour externalisation is properly monitored,” Rwakajara said.
The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi urged government to enhance avenues for job creation so as to reduce the numbers of youth exiting the country in search for work opportunities.
“Government needs to work many times as hard so that we create employment opportunities for our young people here; otherwise, we shall be washing and hanging our clothes to dry in the mud,” Ssenyonyi said.
Legislators also called on government to support the repatriation of other Ugandans stranded under cumbersome working conditions in different countries abroad.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.
This website uses cookies.
