At least eight Indians have been smuggled into Uganda to be engaged in slave labour in the last two weeks.
23 year old Michael Jiwanipuri from Punjab state in India, was one of the eight victims who were brought into the country by Amrik Singh Nono, who now locked up in Luzira prison on charges of human trafficking.
The discovery lifted the lid of denials by the Indian community who were accused by Ugandan businessmen of trafficking their nationals into the country.
Jiwanipuri, who lives with the others in Amrik Singh’s house in Kibwa zone in Nansana, says he studied with Amrik Singh’s wife and it’s through that linkage that he came to Uganda.
Through Amrik Singh Nono’s company Preeti Enterprises Limited, Jiwanipuri who is the only one who can ably speak English, got an invitation to Uganda.
Convinced that Amrik Singh was a big investor in farming, Jiwanipuri came with the hope of finding a job as a customer care attendant, and he arrived in Uganda through Entebbe.
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Jiwanipuri says he was picked by Amrik Singh who drove him to his house in Nansana where he found other Indians. The group had instructions not to talk to any locals and most especially Indian nationals.
He says he was only saved by a terror alert of a nosy villager who reported existence of suspicious people of Asian origin to the counter-terrorism investigators in their neighborhood.
The whole group was rounded up and had to spend three days at Wandegeya police station. During arrest, Jiwanipuri says he lost his mobile phone to a police officer attached to the counter terrorism headquarters, whom he says he has since forgiven.
The three day ordeal resulted into loss of his passports to the Directorate of Immigration where he has to report every two weeks.
Asked how he manages to eat and walk around in Kampala without an income, Jiwanipuri says he owes his existence to former Rubaga North MP Katongole Singh, whose short stint as legislator was ended by the Court of Appeal.
Jiwanipuri does not look in any way stressed but he is concerned that though he lost the money from the air ticket, he is determined to have Amrik Singh Nono locked away in prison.
He says Singh Nono, who is wanted back in India for murder after he escaped from prison to come to Uganda, had ruined many people’s lives in the group.
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Jiwanipuri talks of one Indian who sold his motor cycle and land to come to Uganda, while another sold land. He says the lowest Amrik collected from an individual was 2500 dollars while the highest lost 24,000 dollars. Among the victims are three mechanics, a chef and customer service workers.
Today Jiwanipuri hopes he will get his passport, find a job in Kampala, make some money and then go back to India where he says he had no job.
