Nalu spent two years looking for a job in vain after completing a diploma in Mass Communication. When Dalvin Mwesigwa reportedly told her about employment opportunities in Malaysia, she thought this was an opportunity she could not afford to miss. Nalu says Mwesigwa and his colleague told her that she could earn about $6,000 (Shs15, 558,188) per month in Malaysia. “I was assured that all I had to do was give my passport to them and the travel documents would be processed and I travel in five days-time.” Nalu adds: “They told me that their sister, a Ugandan, was financing everything. This made me accept since I thought I was going to deal with a fellow Ugandan.” She narrates that she was scheduled to travel to Malaysia on December 19, 2010 with another woman but Mwesigwa and his colleague refused to give them their travel documents until they paid Shs500,000 each for securing ‘employment opportunities for them’. “I was bitter because I thought I had lost a golden opportunity to travel to a land where I would work and be able to look after my mum and siblings,” Nalu says. Nalu managed to secure the money with help from her relatives. The two women in their early 20s flew out of Uganda on December 22. “We boarded a Turkish Airline plane from Entebbe to Istanbul in Turkey from where we boarded another plane to Singapore which eventually connected us to Malaysia,” Nalu states.

On arrival at the airport, they were met by a Nigerian man and woman, who said they were friends of Mwesigwa’s sister. “The female Nigerian called herself Shade Pretty. She seemed to be religious and often recited the Bible verses,” Nalu recalls. They spent the night at Pretty’s house and in the afternoon they were taken to Tower 9 at Venice Hill in Taman Alam Jaya, where they ended up on the 23th floor. “It was at this place that we got the shock of our lives,” Nalu says, adding: “We were told that we had to pay $6000 which they spent on the air ticket and visa. Then we had to pay for rent, water and power bills. We were to pay it in installments of Malaysian Ringgit of 1,000 per week.” They were told that they were to make that money from prostitution. “We said no,” she says. Their passports were confiscated. “When our passports were taken, we were told that we must first repay the money they had spent on our travels to be able to get them back,” but failed to find it. However, someone directed them to an embassy thinking that it was the Ugandan one but they found it was Tanzanian.

At the Tanzanian embassy they managed to contact the Ugandan consulate in Malaysia. They called the Ugandan consul and she gave them an appointment the next day. In the evening, they walked back to Tower 9. That night tragedy struck. “That very night, a Ugandan girl committed suicide,” Nalu says.

The above situation amounts to human trafficking.

Legally speaking

Human trafficking is a crime in Uganda and is provided for Under the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2009. Section 8(c) provides that a person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbors, provides or receives a person for domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship with intention of trafficking and introduces or matches any person to another for purposes of sexual exploitation, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to five years imprisonment or a fine of 120 currency points or both. In this instance for Impartial lawyers to assist,

Step 1 They would write to preventative mechanisms such as the Uganda National Police human trafficking department, coordination office to combat trafficking in persons among others to implement the national action plan and coordinate all anti-trafficking efforts. They should also coordinate with NGOS to conduct awareness campaigns through broadcast media and billboards purposely targeted at potential victims.

Step 2 They would compel police to prioritize investigations in trafficking cases and charge the alleged traffickers.

Step 3 Using the law they would compel the DPP to ensure that traffickers are prosecuted and that their sentences are commensurate with the seriousness of their crimes.

Article courtesy of The Daily Monitor newspaper and edited by Advocate Vera Nawumbe