By Mustapha Kamara Jnr
A long running ban on recruitment for overseas job placement is threatening business for employment agencies who are now pleading for a rethink by the government.
The ban was instituted some two years ago, and government officials said it was prompted by reports that Sierra Leoneans, especially women serving as domestic workers in foreign lands, were going through harsh treatment in the hands of their hosts.
The ban has left thousands of job seekers hopeless and the local companies struggling to survive the consequent financial crunch.
With a very high youth unemployment rate in the country, Sierra Leonean recruitment companies have taken advantage of a huge demand for labour in Arab countries through collaboration with overseas recruitment companies. This way thousands of otherwise jobless youths have served in countries like Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE in various capacities, including as maids, masons and domestic house helps.
Thousands of Sierra Leoneans have benefitted from the scheme within the last decade since the end of the civil war.
But following incessant reports over the last few years of Sierra Leoneans going through hash treatment, the government slammed a ban on recruitment.
One of the leading companies involved in the business was the Makaimoh International Investment.Its Chief Executive Officer, Akim Bangura, said those who went through alleged maltreatment were the ones who were recruited by “illegal companies.”
“The complaint that came to Sierra Leone was as a result of people who were illegally recruiting Sierra Leoneans without following the required criteria of the recruitment process,” Bangura told Politico in an interview.
The gulf state of Kuwait was said to be particularly notorious for alleged abuses against maids.
Last month, following huge criticisms of the government’s handling of the situation, the country’s ambassador to Kuwait,Ibrahim Kamara, flew in to Freetown to defend the government. Ambassador Kamara told a press conference that over 144 Sierra Leoneans illegally recruited for job seeking were living in Kuwait homeless.
He said these affected people were recruited without the knowledge of the embassy, which had made it difficult for the mission to act. He said 50 of those stranded were women.
Social media in particular have been overflowing with reports of abuse meted out to some of these people, especially the women.
The public anger has been directed at the government for not been seen to be doing anything about it. Some people have accused the government of complacency in what is now seen as a ring of human trafficking. But Mr Kamara denied this, insisting that the recruitments were done without the embassy’s knowledge.
There are about a dozen registered companies working in the sector. The notable ones include the Sierra Trading Company, United Shipping and Overseas Recruitment Sierra Leone Limited, and Safeway Investment Company.
“We are not happy at all when we hear such complaint because it put us in bad light,” said Bangura who heads Makaimoh International Investment group. He said they were working on a plan to provide assurance for the government of the safety of Sierra Leoneans recruited for overseas jobs.
This plan entails the formation of a union which the employment agencies believe will put to an end the “smuggling” of Sierra Leoneans by the unrecognised agencies. He said despite the ban, they’d found out that these illegal recruitment agencies were “smuggling” Sierra Leoneans abroad.
“Our agencies do not favour such act,” he said.
The union is to work closely with the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Employment, he said.
“Our aim is to provide jobs for our fellow Sierra Leoneans and not to put them in danger,” added Mohamed Kamara, CEO of Serra Trading Company, among company involved in recruitment of job seekers.
According to Kamara, his company had been contracted to recruit some 1, 000 men to work as carpenters, still benders, masons and laborers in Qatar. He appealed for the government to speed up the planned establishment of a “Labour Migration Policy.”
According to officials, the Migration Policy will be the operational document to regulate overseas employment.
Lansana Bayoh Sesay, Information Officer at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, told Politico that it was not the intention of government to place a ban on overseas employment since it was aware of the huge employment opportunities it created.
“It was owing to the persistent complaints of undignified treatment of Sierra Leoneans working as maids or servants in Kuwait that caused government to place a ban on the recruitment and also to revoke the licences of recruitment companies,” Bayoh said.
(C) Politico 22/03/16
