KAMPALA — The Ugandan authorities have seized the passports of some Saudi citizens and charged them with violating recruitment regulations, according to media reports. The Ugandan government has stopped sending its citizens to work as domestic help in the Kingdom, accusing the Kingdom of mistreatment without any proof. Wilson Muruli Mukasa, minister of gender, labor and social development, said last month that the ban will remain in force until the alleged mistreatments end. The Saudi Embassy in Kampala refuted the allegations. Dr. Jamal Raffa, Saudi Ambassador to Uganda, said that meetings are continuing with the Ugandan side to resume the recruitment of domestic workers as per previous agreements. He said that some brokers were charging exorbitant recruitment fees. Some of them were even charging $1,000 as fee for a Ugandan passport which in reality costs only $150. Recently the Saudi Embassy in Vietnam discovered that some Saudi businessmen hired domestic help for the price of SR2,000 each and charged citizens back home a recruitment fee of SR25,000 each.
