Govt kicks off bilateral labour agreement negotiations with Saudi Arabia
By Mike Sebalu
The government of Uganda has started negotiations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to have the suspended bilateral labour agreement (BLA) activated before the end of February this year.
On December 23,2022, the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development wrote to all recruitment agencies and all pre-departure orientation and training institutions alerting them of the suspension of the bilateral labour agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This was in accordance with article 10 of the BLA of the domestic workers between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Uganda.
The same article provides that suspension/termination shall be without prejudice to the individual employment contracts existing at the same time of suspension or termination.
According to the Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Mr. Aggrey Kibenge, this was done earlier before the December 27, 2022 deadline to avoid an automatic trigger within the contract yet a number of raised concerns had not been addressed.
Now Kibenge says contacts have been established and are working out a roadmap which will show what will be done and when.
Among the amendments is the establishment of the Joint Technical Committee to work on issues being raised by workers from time to time in a timely manner.
