Saudi court awards Sh165 million to Ugandan domestic worker in ‘stolen kidney’ scandal

Nakintu flew to Jeddah in Saud Arabia where she mysteriously lost her kidney on December 12, 2019. PHOTO | COURTESY

By The Citizen Reporter

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Kampala. A Saudi court has awarded Ush270 million (about Tsh165 million) to a

Ugandan domestic worker, Ms Judith Nakintu, who lost her right kidney in questionable circumstances while at King Fahad Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

According to a report in The Observer of Uganda, Ms Judith Nakintu’s employer Saad Dhafer Mohamed Al-Asmari will have to pay 271,450 Riyals (about Tsh165 million) to the victim.
“…convicting Saad Dhafer Mohamed Al-Asmari of the error…Obligating the defendant, Saad Dhafer Mohamed Al-Asmari, to hand over to the plaintiff, Nakintu Judith, the indemnity for the aforementioned injury an amount of 271,450 Riyals,” the ruling by Al-Mahyani reads in part. 

According to a January 30, 2022 report in the New Vision of Uganda, Nakintu was recruited in 2019 by a Kampala-based Nile Treasure Gate Company as a housemaid to work in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

She flew to Jeddah on December 12, 2019. 

However, after two months on the job, she was reportedly involved in an accident, although no details were given, New Vision reported. 

The victim’s younger brother, Robert Kadichi, is quoted in New Vision as saying that at first, she was communicating with her family until she went silent. 

Attempts by the family to communicate with Judith Nakintu yielded no fruits until October 30, last year, when they received a call from the company that Nakintu would land at Entebbe International Airport, according to New Vision. 

Upon arrival, the family was not allowed to meet Nakintu and she was taken to Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda for medical check-up where they learnt that she underwent a ‘mysterious surgery’ while in Jeddah and that her right kidney was missing. 

However, a February 16, 2022 report in The Observer says a lawyer with Nile Treasure Gate Company, Atanansi Nsubuga, insists that Nakintu was involved in an accident on March 20, 2020, less than four months after leaving Uganda. 

“The report from King Fahad hospital indicates that “Ms Nakintu was badly injured and bedridden for over a year. The Ugandan embassy in Saudi Arabia was also in the know of the condition, visited her and wrote several letters to various offices seeking support for Ms Nakintu,” Nsubuga said. 

Since the confirmation of Nakintu’s missing kidney by Mulago National Referral Hospital, police working with other security agencies have so far arrested four proprietors and managers of Nile Treasure Gate Company.

Police and immigration officials are trying to establish the circumstances, under which Nakintu’s kidney was removed if at all she was taken to the hospital following an accident.

Agnes Igoye, the deputy coordinator National Anti-human Trafficking Department at the ministry of Internal Affairs, says Nile Treasure Gate Company conspired with medical officers in Saudi Arabia to make claims that Nakintu was involved in an accident and that her internal organs were intact.