Police are holding managers of labour exporting company – Middle East Consultancy – over allegations of fleecing people of large sums of money, purporting to get them jobs abroad.
Benon Kunywana and Owen Ayamba, the company’s general and recruiting manager, respectively, were yesterday arrested at the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) offices, after being grilled for over 30 minutes over the said allegations.
Twenty-seven victims petitioned SHACU, demanding sh51m from the company. However, Kunywana paid sh22m and promised to clear the balance on Friday.
The SHACU head, Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema, handed over the suspects to the Police, who later took the duo to the Central Police Station.
“Paying part of the money does not close the case of obtaining money by false pretence against you because there is already a file at Police. I, therefore, hand over the suspects to Police for custody,” she said.
The Police said charges of obtaining money by false pretence will be slapped against Kunywana, while Ayamba faces charges of uttering false documents and human trafficking.
Early this year, 27 girls were scheduled to leave the country but were intercepted before leaving Entebbe International Airport. Nakalema said there has been a public outcry about trafficking of Ugandans, prompting them to launch investigations against labour exporting companies on July 15.
She said, in a meeting she had with the Permanent Secretary of the labour ministry, foreign affairs ministry, internal affairs ministry, Uganda Police and criminal intelligence, they had agreed to investigate the matter of labour exploitation and human trafficking. Nakalema said 30 labour- exporting companies were under investigation.
However, she disclosed that seven companies had many cases which had not yet been concluded, with four being identified for making Ugandans suffer in Arab countries.
In their petition, the victims claim that they were tortured, as they demanded their money from the company. However, Kunywana denied allegations of torturing the victims.