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Gender, Labour, and Social Development Minister Betty Amongi is in Qatar’s capital, Doha, over a labour export deal between Uganda and the gas-rich Arab Gulf state.

Amongi revealed on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday (March 31) that she would sign the bilateral labour agreement between the two countries to facilitate safe labour migration.

After arriving in Doha, the minister also said an update on the details of the agreement would follow.

Her ministry’s latest data indicates that the Government earned shillings 25 billion from 120,459 migrant workers exported in the two years to 2023.

The data contained in the January 2022 and December 2023 Labour Externalisation Statistics also showed that the money was mainly earned from the expression of interest fees, fines, accreditation, job orders, and license fees.

Saudi Arabia took the lion’s share of at least 107, 448 (89.1%) of these migrant workers in the two years, followed by Qatar, which took in at least 5.05% (6,086), while the United Arab Emirates took in 4,457.

Somalia had 1,108, Iraq 1,081, Kuwait 262, and Bahrain six. The rest (11) traveled to Poland (seven) and Romania (four). 

In May last year, Parliament passed the Employment (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2022 after noting that there was no policy on labour migration and that the sub-sector was being regulated by the Migrant Workers Regulations of 2021 and a bilateral labour agreement with Saudi Arabia.

“As a result, the industry has faced various challenges ranging from illicit or concealment movement of persons, continuous struggles and hardships for the migrant workers and difficulties in repatriation, causing an outcry in the public for help,” the committee on gender, labour, and social development, which scrutinized the Bill, said in its report.