National Unity Platform (NUP) has today announced a strategic campaign of conducting music concerts across the globe, to raise money to rescue Ugandans stuck in the Arabian peninsula.
Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi, the spokesperson for NUP confirmed that Robert Kyagulanyi, also President of this political party is currently in South Africa and that he will flag off this campaign by holding several concerts there, to raise money for this cause.
Ssenyonyi said many Ugandans are stuck in Arab countries, with no means of coming back home, and that many responsible stakeholders just end on talking, rather than taking immediate steps to make sure these Ugandans return home.
“They were flown out of Ugandan to Arab countries, but some of them live as if they are under captivity, while others had their passports illegally seized, they don’t have where to start to return home, they were brutalized, while others had their body organs forcebly extracted, terribly tortured, others end up dying, you must have been watching these things in news,” Said Ssenyonyi.
“So, many Ugandans are going through tough situations there and most of them eventually are locked up in halls, which are like refugee camps in which they are subjected to inhumane treatment,” Ssenyonyi added.
This announcement comes after government revealed a few weeks ago, that it is in advanced stages of repatriating a sizeable number of Ugandans, who previously served as migrant workers abroad, but wanted to return home as a result of inhumane treatment by their bosses in the Middle East.
However, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development Hon. Betty Amongi who made this revelation did not elaborate at length how government would execute this plan, and when it would start, leaving many observers speculating.
Amidst this uncertainty, Bobi Wine’s side today came up and openly told the country, that it intends to carry out a comprehensive liberation process of all Ugandans who are stranded in the Middle East by bringing them back home, and that efforts would start now, without any delays.
It should of course be noted that business companies in Arab countries of Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and others laid off a large number of African migrant workers as a result of several restrictions put in place to curb the spread of Covid19.
These were left jobless and meandering on the streets on those states, with hardly any money to start the process of returning home.
These Ugandans are also to be rescued but majorly those who have suffered inhumane treatment like torture, sexual abuse, among others at the hands of their Arab employers.
According to NUP, a sizeable number of Ugandans in the Midddle East had their passports illegally seized, on top of confiscating their phones to frustrate communications with the outside world.
Many of these Ugandans are stuck on several airports without money to fly them back home, and government recently confirmed that the majority of these people were secretly trafficked out of the country.
Against this background, NUP under their president Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine have started a campaign in South Africa aimed at raising money to aid these desperate Ugandans return home.
This will be realized through conducting music concerts, shows, carnivals and festivals in various countries across the world, and the proceeds will be directly channeled to rescuing these stranded Ugandans.
“In this campaign, our president Hon. Kyagulanyi Ssentamu will hold some concerts, in several countries around the world like South Africa and all the monies which will be collected from these concerts will go to the aid of these Ugandans stuck abroad to return home,” explained Hon. Ssenyonyi.
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