By THE OBSERVER UG
The victims were trafficked to Uganda in November 2023
The ministry of Internal Affairs has launched an investigation into circumstances under which 14 Burundian nationals were trafficked into Uganda for manual labour exploitation by Pieri Ndayisenga and Shaban Serungaya.
Ndayisenga and Serungaya allegedly lured the victims after promising them lucrative employment opportunities as gardeners and shepherds in Uganda.
According to Derrick Basalirwa Kigenyi, deputy coordinator of the National Coordination Office Against Human Trafficking, the victims were trafficked in November 2023 and were led to believe that they would receive regular pay for their work whereas not.
When the victims demanded their wages from the employer, a farmer in Uganda, they discovered that their money had already been paid to their traffickers.
Further investigation revealed that all 14 trafficked Burundians possessed mobile SIM cards registered under Ugandan names, raising concerns about identity theft and fraudulent registration practices. Authorities are now conducting inquiries to determine how non-Ugandans obtained SIM cards registered under Ugandan identities.
In a separate incident, three individuals were apprehended for trafficking three Somali nationals with the intent of selling them into slavery in Libya. Daniel Gatikosh, a South Sudan national, admitted to trafficking the women from Somalia through Kenya to Uganda.
“When we smuggle these women from Somalia, we use Kenyan borders and find ways of making them reach Uganda. Here (Uganda) they spend like a month or two and we then take them to Elegu town from where we find means to reach South Sudan, Sudan, and Libya,” Gatikosh alleged during interrogation.
Gatikosh, Abudhi Khadir, and another man were arrested at Elegu border town a few days ago with the females waiting to cross into South Sudan.
“I am a Somali national and I have been doing this job for some months. The girls paid us US$3,000 and we were going to sell them for more than $10,000. These people trust us,” Kadhir allegedly said.
Some of the victims were destined for forced labour, while others were targeted for organ harvesting. Kigenyi emphasized the serious risks faced by trafficked individuals, including exploitation, slavery, and violence. The ministry of Internal Affairs and law enforcement agencies are intensifying efforts to combat human trafficking and hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes.
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