By Monica Tambala

Lilongwe, Mana: Minister of Labour, Vera Kamtukule has called on all Malawians seeking employment abroad and all employment agencies to follow proper procedures by government and its stakeholders for easy identification and assistance if things go sour.

She said this at a Press briefing held at the Central Office of Information in Lilongwe which was organised together with Ministry of Homeland Security to discuss human trafficking in persons and illegal labour migration undertaken by some individuals and agencies.

“There is a lot of illegal migration happening, we cannot stop labour migration because people are always going to be migrating in search of greener pastures however our key issue is to say that when they are migrating they should do that in the confines of the law,

The government needs to be involved so that should something happen, the government can come in to rescue those people but currently 98% of migration taking place, government is not aware of it, people are migrating on their own especially using illegal employment organisations,” she said.

According to Kamtukule, many agencies are targeting women and girls sending them to different countries especially in the middle east where they are facing a lot of challenges and being subjected to abuse and exploitation.

“Labour migration is a part of job creation and when it is done right it benefits both the destination country and country of origin of employment seekers so we are not against this but when it’s done illegally it means you are vulnerable to all sorts of abuses,

I went undercover with undercover police where we were able to uncover a place from which some of them operate from and we obtained a search warrant from the courts and found evidence of payment from people, change of flights, travel agent and so on,” she said.

The Minister said that Malawi High Commission in South Africa recorded over 800 Malawian deaths in the previous year that did not have proper documentation 60 percent which died from stubbing.

Minister of Homeland Security, Jean Sendeza  said, “There was a type of slavery long ago where people were taken andeveryone knew about it, but this current one has its own strange technologies with people masquerading as employment agents sending others abroad illegally subjecting them to modern slavery,

I am asking all of you to follow proper procedures when sending our children abroad, let the ministry know and let the government know, we need our people to migrate in a regular manner not illegally.”

Sendeza highlighted that the Ministry was aware and has acquired warrants of arrest for all illegal agencies who would be arrested soon.

She implored the judiciary to give stiff punishments to those involved in the act so that they serve as exemplary cases to prevent others from doing the same.

The Minister asked all Malawians to hold hands in the fight against human trafficking. 

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