JOB HUNT AGONY! 0ver 500 job seekers accuse Ntinda based labour export firm Mandela logistics of defrauding them millions

A number of job seekers estimated to be around 500 are crying foul after labour export firm, Mandela logistics limited, claiming to be an employment recruitment agency taking people to work abroad allegedly fleeced them of their hard earned money.

The firm is located in Ntinda, plot 285 Sempagala zone off Ntinda-Bukoto road, Kampala, Uganda.

These had been promised to be taken in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Kuwait, and Qatar.

Some of the victims have been tossed up and down since 2019 and up to date are still waiting.

One of them, who preferred anonymity, told this publication that he and other colleagues were made to fill application forms in 2019. They were promised to go in a two months period and their destination was Afghanistan.

He says on recruitment, each of the job seekers was asked to pay up to Shs2.5m to process their travel documents, certificate of good conduct from Interpol, medical fees, membership fees, insurance and among others.

However, when you add transport and other extra fees the amount can go up to Shs3.5m.

They did not go. In 2020, Covid-19 pandemic set in and everything was put on halt, which he said was understandable. They patiently waited.

When travel restrictions on labour export were lifted, their destination changed from Afghanistan to Iraq.

He says all this time they were being asked for extra money (renewing Interpol certificate-150000, Iraq certificate-USD15, Covid test and vaccination-150000 and others).

He says they have been in this circus of lies and fake promises until December last year 2022, when they noticed that those who had been handling them had started dodging them. Phone calls went unanswered; neither messages were replied.

He says their efforts to pressurise the firm to refund their money have yielded nothing. There is only a security guard at the said offices and an attendant with instructions to only handover back passports and Covid-19 certificates to those who are tired of waiting.

He says between 2019 and 2022 the company has been keeping over 500 job seekers in the same dilemma.

Asked why they haven’t reported the matter to authorities, he says, they were intimidated and warned never to take that route.

“We were told the company belongs to security people and if we report they will know…police will tell them and they will look for us one by one and harm us,” narrated one of the victims.

Efforts to reach out to Mandela Logistics were unsuccessful. All numbers given to us were switched. We were also given two numbers belonging to one Isaac Yiga whom victims say was one of the company’s employees. One was picked by a lady who had nothing to do with him and another one was by a gentleman who denied knowledge of the company.

The victims know the firm’s boss as Director Murungi. On its website, the company claims to be a reputable manpower recruitment agency based in Uganda and has contracts with in various countries with several companies like YAZAN FOR IMPORTATION AND EMPLOYMENT NON-JORDANIAN DOMESTIC WORKERS, a Jordanian based recruitment agency to recruit. DO YOU HAVE A HOT STORY (CHEATERS, DIVORCE, VIDEOS, CORRUPTION, LAND WRANGLES, EXPOSES …ETAL) YOU WOULD LIKE US TO PUBLISH? CALL/TEXT/WHATSAPP 0777959024 OR EMAIL: [email protected]