CONTRARY TO REPORTS seeking to blame the government or Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to Kuwait for the Kuwait maids scandal, a Sierra Leonean lawyer, Mr. Patrick Sovie, has dropped a bombshell by naming the companies and individuals involved in the recruiting exercises. Mr.Sovie has also produced documentary evidence to prove that the Government of Sierra Leone acted swiftly to stop the recruiting process once it became known that the whole exercise was a hoax and maids were being maltreated by their masters in Kuwait.
To understand the background of this story, readers are asked to read :
2.https://cocorioko.net/sierra-leone-embassy-in-kuwait-debunks-social-media-reports-on-house-maids/
We present Mr. Sovie’s letter to COCORIOKO and the documents he sent us . READ :
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Dear Rev Kanu,
With much pleasure of heart I write to thank you and your team for the important and relevant journalistic work around the globe in regards to matters of our beloved Country Sierra Leone. I have been closely following the issue of the Sierra Leone Ambassador to Kuwait and of recruitment of maid’s from our homeland.
Contrary to the wild spread allegations against the Honorable Ambassador to Kuwait and the Labour Ministry by some misguided Sierra Leoneans with regards Overseas recruitments in that Country, Please find attached copy of my reports I made to the Sierra Leone Government One year before this massive maids recruited started in that Country and after informing the Ministry of Labour Social Security and Industrial Relations through the Honorable Minister Dr. Mathew Teambo in the present of his Permanent Secretary, and the Senior Labour officer in charge of Overseas Recruitments Mr. Herbert Z. Smith, with a representative from the Sierra Leone Police and Tocu, and in the present of all owners of registered and authorized recruiting Agencies in Sierra Leone. The report speaks for its self.
Patrick Sovie ( Esq.
Chief Executive Officer and International Recruiter,
Sovie’s International Training and Contracting Company Sierra Leone Limited.
14 Chadwick Street Freetown,
Sierra Leone -West Africa.
SOVIE’S INTERNATIONAL TRAINING AND CONTRACTING COMPANY SIERRALEONE LIMITED
14 CHADWICK STREET AND MURABAY WATERLOO.
E-mail:[email protected]/[email protected]
2nd June, 2014.
The Head Transnational Organized Crime Unit Freetown.
Dear Sir/Madam,
LETTER OF COMPLAIN OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF SIERRALEONEAN NATIONAL OVERSEAS
Reference to the above subject matter, I am writing to inform your office and the world at large of two Sierra Leonean Companies that are currently involved in human trafficking of our national especially the young ladies to the state of Kuwait under the guise of overseas employment, and this to me as a patriotic Sierra Leonean, a legal persons, and owner of a Company and Vice President Police Partnership Board Central Division, Somebody with versed Middle East Experience that have worked in Kuwait need to inform your office accordingly . I ,m filing a formal complain to your office because these two companies The United shipping and overseas Recruitments Company (SL)Limited and the Makaimor International Investment Company (SL)Limited had sent sierraleonean to Kuwait as maids with the visa 20 ( which is the visa that restricts persons while in Kuwait to only a house or a confine space or location as domestic worker ) instead of the normal Visa 18 Which is the general working visa for Foreigners to work in Kuwait as it prescribed in the Kuwait labour laws.
Attached with these letter are photo start copies of visa 20 that I had attached for your perusal which these two companies is using to sent Sierra Leoneans to work in Kuwait under humiliating, degrading, and restricted conditions and this has caused a ripple effect on all Companies that are recruiting for Kuwait .
Further, as an experienced person that had worked in Kuwait and other middle Eastern countries and that is involved in recruiting business I hare by present to you the following guides and point to ascertain my allegation of these two companies trafficking people to Kuwait.
Chapter 111 sub section(18) of the constitution of SierrraLeone Clearly states that
- “No person shall be deprived of his freedom of movement, and for the purpose of this section the said freedom means the right to move freely throughout Sierra Leone, the right to reside in any part of Sierra Leone, the right to enter or leave Sierra Leone, and immunity from expulsion form Sierra Leone”.
Chapter 111Sub section (19) & (20) States
Protection from slavery and forced labour. 19.
(1) “No person shall be held in slavery or servitude or be required to perform forced labour or traffic or deal in human beings.
(2) For the purposes of this section the expression “forced labour” does not include—
(a) any labour required in consequence of a sentence or order of a court, or
(b) labour required of any person while he is lawfully detained, which though not required in consequence of the sentence or order of a court, is reasonably necessary in the interest of hygiene or for the maintenance of the place in which he is detained; or
(c) any labour required of a member of a defence force in pursuance of his duties as such or, in the case of a person who has conscientious objections to service as such a member, any labour which that person is required by law to perform in place of such service; or
(d) any labour required during a period of public emergency or calamity which threatens the life of well-being of the community; or
(e) communal labour or labour which forms part of other civic obligation”.
Protection from inhuman treatment.
20.(1)’ No person shall be subject to any form of torture or any punishment or other treatment which is inhuman or degrading.
(2) Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section to the extent that the law in question authorises the infliction of any kind of punishment which was lawful immediately before the entry into force of this Constitution.
And this is what exactly the Directors of these two Companies had done.
Mr. Lati Kanu And Mr.Akim Bangura of the two Companies have sent Sierraleonean workers to Kuwait with visa 20 misrepresenting ,and misinforming them that they are going to work for Safir Hotel where I’m sending my candidate to work with visa 18, and as I speak to you they do not know most of the where about of these sierraleonean maids in Kuwait because neither MrLati Kanu, nor Mr. Akim Bangura had ever visited Kuwait in their life time and they do not know the persons in question the are sending these Sierra Leoneans to ,Also it is stated in our Sierra Leonean Passport that the Sierra Leone International passport should not be transferable from one person to another and that it is a government property and therefore it should not be seized by any third party what so ever, it is against this back drop this is which to inform you sir that with visa 20 in Kuwait, it is incumbent and a must for the agent to seize the passport of these Sierraleonean Citizens for preventing them from running away and because it is domestic visa it is prescribes by the Kuwaiti labour laws that the right of the individual with visa20 in Kuwait are heavily abused because their freedom of movement is heavily restricted and that these maids are most often than not are forced to work long hours because they are restricted in to a room or a house of the Kuwait person that send for them, Also, because of they do not have access to their passport, and there are no agent to check on them and the recruiter here sending them did not know their location in Kuwait most of these ladies have been forced by their Kuwaiti parent to have sex with and they are left with no chance to resist because they do not have have access to work out side and and other are been put in one location ( one big house) and then the Kuwaiti sponsor will divert their work from maids and for them to work as prostitute.
Furthermore, despite the fact that the Minister of Labour Dr.Mathew M Teambo, had summoned a meeting and had called all recruiting Companies to report and to presents their candidates to the Transnational Organized Crime Units for onward verification exercises , these two Companies are still taking their applicant to this office with visa 20 and are misinforming the police that they are sending their Candidates with visa 18,because they know they police cannot distinguished easily between visa 18/20 and added to that I had observed that they want to beat the system and still send these innocent Ladies to Kuwait who do not know where they are going to and the type of visa they are travelling with ,that is why they had use a ploy to be taking each applicant parent to (TOCU) In the guise that their parent shall sign innocently accepting responsibility that they know where their children are going and they know the working condition under which their children are travelling to Kuwait not knowing that there are various types of visa for Kuwait and that visa 20 is not good for Sierra Leonean Citizens.
I’m therefore craving your indulgence to please look into this matter in detail and to cross check with the SierraLeonen Embassy in Kuwait and to request these all companies that have sent workers to Kuwait to present their visa type, location and place of work, contract persons in Kuwait jobs orders etc with regards Visa 18 and visa 20, and secondly to discourage the recruitments of sierraleonean to Kuwait as maids, as there and many other valuable jobs in Kuwait.
As Vice President of the Police Partnership board Central Division, an experienced person that have lived and worked in Kuwait and a Owner of a reputable Company that had sent Sierra Leoneans to Kuwait under visa 18 for Safir Hotel, i deem it prudent to inform you and the Government and I’m always ready to give you additional information about Kuwait and Middle Eastern experience.
Sincerely,
Patrick B.K.Sovie (Jr) Esq
Chief Executive Officer, Legal Adviser, Founder, Owner,
Sovie’s International Training and Contracting Company
And
Vice-President Police Partnership Board Sierra Leone Police
Central Division
Cc:
The Chief Justice Republic of Sierra Leone
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice
The Inspector General Sierra Leone Police
The Head International Police
The Minister of Labour Social Security and Industrial Relations
Head of Chancery Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
The International Organization on migration
Office of the National Security
Lawyer Umaru Koroma Esq. Barrister and solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone
Dear Rev,
Kindly see attached documents as actions that government took immediately after my complain
Thanks
