Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
15 November 2008
Kampala — OVER 5,000 Ugandans working as security guards in Iraq risk losing their jobs following a business rivalry among recruiting agencies.
A Kampala businessman, Stanley Mutebi, has already secured a High Court injunction against Dreshak International, one of the recruiting firms.
The injunction blocks Dreshak from carrying out any further recruitment and also seeks to stop the firm from administering the Ugandans working in Iraq. This would mean that the Ugandans would have to be returned home, according to reliable source.
The country director of Dreshak, Alok Dheer confirmed the development although he said their lawyers would seek to reverse the Court order.
"We don't know the motive of the person who got this court order. We don't know the implications of the order, but our lawyers will give us a legal opinion on Monday," he stated.
The interim court order, which was secured through Ngobi Ndika Advocates, also seeks that SOC-SMG should terminate its business relationship with Dreshak International. Dreshak is owned by Pakistan businessmen, but city tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia has been linked to the recruiting firm.
A reliable source said SOC-SMG had cancelled Dreshak international's contract in connection with the administration of the workers' funds by a local bank as well as poor training.
The contract has been awarded to another recruiting company. Alok, however, said their contract has not been terminated.
Recent investment reports indicated that Ugandan guards in Iraq bring home $60m (about sh110b) per year, according to labour state minister Mwesigwa Rukutana. Rukutana recently tried to reconcile the recruiting agencies.
The Commissioner for External Employment Unit, Milton, said the performance of the recruiting agencies is evaluated annually and a report sent to the main contractor in the US.
"If a company fails to meet the standards of the main contractor, the contract can be cancelled," he said.
He, however, noted that he was not yet informed about the cancellation, although he said there has been business rivalry. Combined, the four active companies have taken over 12,000 Ugandans to Iraq since 2005.
Askar, the company that pioneered exportation of labour to Iraq in 2005 has so far taken over 5,000 people. Watertight has taken over 1,200, Dreshak over 4,000 and Gideon's Men/Connect Finance about 800.
A source said some recruiting agencies had resorted to seeking cheaper labour in other countries such as Kenya, Namibia and Nepal. An American contractor, SOC-SMG is one of the international private security firms that has been contracted by the US government to provide security services in Iraq.
Intelligence agencies have raised concern that it would be insecure for the country to have such a big number of trained personnel returning to the country without proper retirement plans for them.
"They can be a security threat if they return without a plan on how they will conduct their business when they come back," an intelligence official said.
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