Commenting about the arrest of a 30-year-old woman who battered and tortured her house help, RX Radio presenter James Onen opined that most Ugandans complain about the mistreatment of domestic workers in the Middle East yet they treat them the same or even worse than Arab employees.
Sheila Masiko, a resident of Buwaate in Najjera Municipality was last week arrested on allegations of aggravated trafficking of her 14-year-old maid, whom she reportedly subjected to beatings, burning by a flat iron, and pouring hot water on her body in addition to withholding her salary.
James Onen, disturbed by the incidents, called out Ugandans for their hypocritical criticism of Arabic domestic employers, yet they subject the same treatment to their own.
“Whenever the stories of mistreatment of domestic workers in the Middle East come up, Ugandans make very racist comments about the Arabs and Asians, forgetting that they treat the domestic workers either the same way or even worse,” he said.
Olive Najjuma, the show’s co-presenter, agreed saying that many Ugandans employ minors which is also illegal.
She added that employers take advantage of underage domestic girls, overworking them for low salaries that they hardly pay.
“For the many years I have hired maids, I have never employed an underage girl. It does not fit with me when someone hires an underage girl as their maid because usually, they do not treat them well. They do not give them food and punish them like they are disciplining their kids, yet most times they do not punish their own children,” Olive explained.
According to Olive, the mistreatment of children/ domestic laborers is sometimes rooted in depression and other mental health disorders that the employers transfer to the vulnerable maids as their coping mechanism.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, and Sarah every weekday from 6 am to 10 am on RX Radio.