Investigation
Traffickers who smuggle Ugandan girls
through Kenya to different destinations in the Middle East and South
Africa have built a syndicate involving police officers, other security agencies and immigration staff from Uganda and Kenya, a preliminary investigation by Legal Link International has revealed.
The syndicate secretly lures
unemployed Ugandan girls with promises of lucrative (high pay) especially in
the Middle East, this syndicate process passports for them, transport them by road to Uganda’s
eastern borders (Busia and Malaba), and then the games begin.
We have established that
the traffickers use boda boda riders and travel agents to help the girls
cross into Kenya through the official border points at Busia and
Malaba, while some take advantage of the many unguarded crossings known
as panyas to escape. It is lucrative business for those involved, our
investigation shows.
Legal Link International's (LLI) investigations team also found out that the syndicate
is accomplished by select officials at Jomo Kenyatta International
Airport (JKIA) who ensure the girls fly out of Kenya to their respective
destinations.
This investigation is based on information provided
by girls who were intercepted in Kenya as they attempted to fly out to
different destinations, two Ugandan resident district commissioners,
parents of the girls, a labour “agent”, a Kenyan immigration official
and an assortment of official documents and correspondences.
These girls are usually availed with the one-way ticket, promised a contract which usually takes TWO YEARS. if one is disatisfied with the contents therein, they are either framed in a legal wrong (crime) or forcefully abandoned by their sponsors BUT where can one go without a passport or a recognition from the embassy plus a wrong name?.
It is sad that most of these young wemen and girls travel to these jurisdictions without knowing the legal regimes.it is usually had get any reasonable assistance from Ugandan embassies as they are forced to change names by local dealers there commonly known as SPONSORS and their passports are usually confiscated by the so called sponsors in the name of security.
Some
of the girls end up in South Africa, Middle East countries such as
Oman, which are the most popular destinations in this case. Authorities
believe some of the girls and young women are being sold into sex
slavery.
To demonstrate the lucrative nature of the business, a
boda boda ride earns between Shs100,000 to Shs200,000 for safely
delivering a girl to the Kenyan side of the Ugandan border. This journey
should ordinarily cost no more than Shs5,000.
We were unable as of now
to establish how much an “agent” makes if he/she successfully delivers a
Ugandan girl to work as a domestic servant in Oman, But what we established is that on reaching they are all put in one big partitioned hall for quit some time as they are being screened for their sponsors to select.
Charged
But
even before the prospective employers pay the agent, some Ugandan girls
are required to pay agents between Shs800,000 and Shs1.5 million and
sometimes more.
The money facilitates the girls’ crossing at the
border, their accommodation, fake stamps and movement to Jomo Kenyatta
International Airport. In some cases, girls destined to work as domestic
servants are not required to pay any money.
The trafickeres through Kenya have existed for many years, but multiple
sources show it intensified its operations after Kenya banned the export
of domestic workers to the Middle East, leaving Uganda and neighboring
countries such as Burundi and the DR Congo as the major source.
Kenya’s
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is more popular than Entebbe
International Airport in this regard, we have established, because the
traffickers until recently, faced less scrutiny than they faced at
Entebbe. courtesy of Interpol-Uganda, Uganda Police force (UPF) and other Ugandan security and intelligence agencies.
The traffickers also have agents in Kampala who help the
girls and women to get passports in the shortest time possible. The
trafficked range between 16 and 35 years of age, with 16 to 25 age
category being the most sought after.
One of the girls, who we won’t
name because she is still in custody of the traffickers, said she was
trafficked from Kampala through Mbale up to Lwakaka from where she
crossed into Kenya.
“We had to cross what looked like a river on
foot. If someone had not been holding me I would have been swept away. I
was scared and the water was very cold,” she said.
Another
crossing exploited is the Malaba River. When the water levels drop, the
girls are trafficked on foot. Some traffickers use small boats and
canoes to move the girls at the border.
After crossing into Kenya, the girls’ passports are withheld and the girls are put on buses for the journey to Nairobi.
In
Nairobi, they are kept at residences run by the traffickers as their
documents are worked on. Sometimes the traffickers have to make do with
fake stamps in the passports to facilitate the girls’ travel.
Some
of the residences where the girls are kept are located in the Nairobi
suburbs of Kasarani and Kayole.
The names of a one Bosco and Macharia features
prominently as the facilitator at Busia border.
The traffickers keep 24-hour surveillance on the girls until after their flights take off.
When the girl arrives at the destination country in the Middle East, the trafficker receives their first pay cheque.
They
continue to receive royalties throughout the girls’ stay and depending
on the arrangement they have with the host family, business or
individual.
Duped
To allay any fears among the
girls being transported, the traffickers keep records of conversations
with some of the girls doing well in the Middle East. They show these
correspondences, photos and even make calls to the girls who talk of a
good life where they live.
The traffickers also keep a tight
grip on the families of the girls even after they are arrested for allegedly for a legal wrong and
extort more money in some cases. A mother to a girl who is currently
detained in Kenya had agreed to speak to our investigator but changed her
mind after speaking to the agent who took her daughter.
“I am very
busy and I don’t know how she travelled to Kenya. This is a small
matter, I trust the people who took her and I have spoken to the other
girls they took and they are happy where they are working,” the woman
said.
When the investigator insisted on meeting her and offering her legal Aid, she kept giving us wrong
directions until we gave up.
One of the girls trafficked from
Kampala but arrested before she headed to Oman told us that
her mother had paid $200 (Shs720,000) to a fictitious lawyer who was
supposed to represent her during trial at the JKIA Airport Court. The
lawyer did not turn up on two occasions. The girl appeared in court
alone.
Another woman said her agent has so far tried to smuggle her
to Oman twice through JKIA. On both occasions, she has been arrested.
The
first time, the Kenyan immigration officer who arrested her asked the
agent to pay Kshs50,000 (Shs1.7m) for each of the girls to be allowed
through. The agent did not have the money at that time but paid the
officer Kshs1,000 (Shs35,000) for each of the girls not to be put in
custody.
On the next attempt, however, the girl was not lucky. She
had been cleared and was moving her luggage when a JKIA officer became
suspicious. She was arrested and detained before being released. By the
time of our interview, she was contemplating a third attempt.
The cases
Legal Link International has registered a number of cases in Kenya (Nairobi and Mombasa county) through its member law firms. some lucky victims get off the hook after thorough interrogation and screening by kenya police, paralegals and lawyers.
LLI would do further BUT lack of cooperation between the victims parents in most cases mothers or other guardians to avail relavant information as they over rely on the trafficker's advances.
Some
of the girls are released after they plead guilty; others are sentenced
to fines or short prison terms.
Impersonation, however, attracts the
largest fine with those convicted sent to more than a year in prison and
more than Kshs200,000 or Shs7m in fines.
Two Ugandan women are doing
time at Lang’ata Women’s Maximum Prison.
There are currently 44 Ugandan
women incarcerated at the prison with more believed to be in other
detention centres. Of these, 22 have already been convicted. The rest
are still appearing before court.
TO GET A FULL INVESTIGATION REPORT,
Contact: homerulers@myway.com
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