If the World Bank statistics about Uganda’s unemployment rates are anything to go by, it means a paltry of the country’s youth in working age are able to get formal employment after higher education.
Figures of World Bank show that Uganda’s government and private sector create only 75,000 jobs every year but the country gets more than 700,000 youths who reach the employment age each year.
Because of the many unemployed youths, fraudsters and traffickers have taken advantage to victimized the university students and job seeking youths. Figures that have consistently been reported in the media about girls and boys trafficked locally or left crying foul after losing their hard earned money show over 1,000 have fallen victim to online fraudsters and traffickers in less than 24 months.
Just last week, police in Kampala arrested Paul Lubanga Lwanga, after he successfully conned money worth 400,000 shillings and smart phones from each of the 20 girls whom he hoodwinked with online jobs.
Kampala metropolitan police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango, said Lwanga introduced himself to the victims as proprietor of online companies offering jobs. Onyango explained that Lwanga would convince the girls that they did need to present any academic document because the jobs were on their smart phones but just needed some skills.
“He convinced the victims that they would earning from wherever they are. In order to raise numbers, Lwanga would tell one to look for friends so that they can get the jobs at ago. Whenever the numbers increased, Lwanga takes his victims to a restaurant claiming he is going to demonstrate how they would be earning using their smart phones,” Onyango explained.
Lwanga disappeared from the girls after taking them to a restaurant pretending that he was going to collect something from his car. Onyango said Lwanga has no car but he moves with the car key which he uses to tell people that he is going to pick something from his car. The victims he would leave them stranded in a restaurant.
Internal affairs ministry has been registering very many cases of girls trafficked to areas of Kampala, Wakiso, Arua, Soroti and Busia. At one time, the anti-human trafficking department at internal affairs ministry registered over 500 complaints from Arua city.
This incident happened in July this year where Agnes Igoye who was the deputy coordinator trafficking persons depart before she was posted in Djibouti said each of the 500 victims in Arua had been tasked to pay over 600,000 shillings by Alliance in Motion Global a multi-networking and marketing company. These were promised jobs but they ended being fertilizer hawkers.
Lt Gen Joseph Musanyufu, the permanent secretary for internal affairs ministry revealed that last year 21 victims of local and external trafficking died. Some girls have been sold to Iraq and others have lost their internal organs such kidneys.
