My Agency Does Legitimate Clean Business – Sponsor of Cameroon Girls to Kuwait

John Egyawan, a minister of the gospel operates one of the agencies in Buea that sponsors young Cameroonian girls for work in Kuwait. Last week, CRTV magazine program – Cameroon Calling, opened a can of worms with some of the girls testifying to being tortured, enslaved and abused. The program then accused Egyawan and his organisation mainly, of trafficking the girls who end up abused and tortured in Kuwait and Lebanon.

The Cameroon Journal set out to get Egyawan’s side of the story on how he conducts this business. He was very categorical that the case of the abused girls has nothing to do with his agency. He actually feels like his is a victim when he said he is being singled out because they cannot identify the other agencies.
“I am very visible. I have an office. We are a legal entity in Cameroon. The problem is that there are hundreds of agents in Cameroon but they cannot be identified, – they operate illegally. I am just the drop in the ocean of people from Cameroon doing this. I operate clearly, orderly and with transparency. Egyawan spoke to Chris Anu. EXCEPTS.

For how long has your agency been operational and where is the office in Cameroon located? 
My office is located in Mile 16 Buea. The details of my office are on my website. My organization started in 2012. I started sending people to Kuwait in February 2015. 

John Egyawan, “I work with a registered agency in Kuwait”

 
We realized that you advertise in both Cameroon and Nigeria. Approximately how many Africans/Cameroonians have you resettled abroad? 

I have sent over 50 Cameroonians and some Togolese and one Nigerian.

Which countries have the highest intake of the clients that you move abroad? 

I send all my workers to Kuwait because there I have an agency that works with me to take good care of the girls. I have no other knowledge of my sponsored workers going anywhere else. I learned through friends that I have in Dubai that some people go there. But that has nothing to do with our organization.

Your advertising suggests that everything is free including air ticket, visa – in fact, even the entire period of their outing/contract. How are candidates that travel under your agency qualified? 

Yes, for house maids the visa and ticket is paid for by their sponsoring employer through the Agency in Kuwait. That is why we charge only 150,000 FRS which takes care of their medicals and their administrative activities to facilitate their travel.
Can you tell us where your agency in Kuwait is located? What is the name and is it registered to do legitimate business in Kuwait?
No, I don’t have an agency that I own in Kuwait. But I work with a registered agency in Kuwait. Mr. Hagos Burhane is our representative in Kuwait. I will need to get his permission to give you his address there. But you can talk to him. I am very visible, I have an office. We are a legal entity in Cameroon.
Your agent Mr. Burhane, is he African or Kuwaiti citizen? Does he speak English?
Yes, he speaks English. He is Ethiopian and again, he speaks really good English.
This is certainly a business that you do, how do you benefit from this?
When I successfully send someone to Kuwait and they reach there and pass a second medical and go through a probation period I am rewarded for my job.
And how long is this probation period?
Three months.
Your ad also states that your agency guarantees the security of your clients throughout their stay in Kuwait. How do you actually do that? 
We have agencies in Kuwait in three locations with vehicles. All the workers and their sponsors’ information is left in the office. And our office works almost round the clock. If any worker calls that they do not like the house they are in, the agent calls me and informs me and he goes to that location or orders the sponsor to bring them to the office and we change them.
We have relocated some, even four times just to get them a work location where they are comfortable. When they say they are okay then that is where they stay. They like to work where they feel good and with families where they feel loved and safe.
Most of the times they move because of language barriers. Whatever the case, if they make any complains that they do not like the house, we move them. I had a case were one of them was stealing in the house, I have videos and confession and audio which I will not provide for the privacy of the person. We ordered the sponsor not to touch her. My agent quickly went there and took her and she was deported.
Everyone deported for one reason or the other is asked to pay a penalty for breaking the contract. But because our agency is caring, most of them cannot pay. So that is deducted from my money. Meaning that I have paid for all of them just because I care about their well-being.
 
Many Cameroonians are now being enslaved as we have learned recently in these countries, what do you know? Can you vouch to the families of clients you have sent there that they are all doing fine?

It will interest you to know that I have only a little fraction compared to the thousands of Cameroonians who are there. I cannot speak for others. But I can tell you that most of my families – I mean the people I have sent there who want to talk to their family members, if they do not hear from them, I do everything possible for them to speak to them. Some of those families can tell you how their children are doing. I even have a friend who is a police officer. He calls his sister in-law that I sent there on weekly bases. I have my own younger sister too there. We talk to her almost every day on Facebook, skype or WhatsApp. I just sent her and her friend a phone.
So, I can tell you that yes, we take care of our workers and everyone who went there and did their job is fine. With the exception of five who came back and two who ran away. One of them had illegally used her master’s phone to call Cameroon and the bill came up to over $300 and she refused to admit it. She was taken to the police, but she was released eventually and her passport given back to her. But she refused to come back to the office. The other one changed about three houses and the last house she worked, she ran away and is working somewhere else in Kuwait and I am still in communication with her. Her complain is has been hard work.
The other girl about the police said that she does not work in their house. So I asked her if she knew what she was coming to do. She said yes – because she signed the contract. For her, because I know it was laziness, I allowed her to call her family to send her air ticket back but she ran away.

And have any of your clients been a victim of social injustice abroad?

Not that I know of. I have handled all their complains to the best of my ability.

Can you provide us with at least 10 contacts of some of your clients who can testify to their treatment in Kuwait? 

Yes, I can, but I will do that to you personally. I would not like their names or numbers to be published except they give you that right. I will mix theirs with numbers of family members you can also call. And some that came back from Kuwait who still wish to go back there. (We note here that John Egyawan actually provided us with a handful of phone numbers for both Kuwait and Cameroon to call for further investigations.)

You are now under investigation by Cameroonian authorities, can you vouch that your dealings in this business have been very clean and according to the laws? 

Very clean. I even fired my administrator because of bad dealings in my back. I have fired most of my agents because they tell lies and charge too much fees from people. My administrator and some of the agents working for me decided to recruit people in my name and then sent them out through another Agency in Kuwait. I only came to know when one of my younger brothers told me and when one girl returned from Kuwait and came to our office to ask for a 550,000 FRS she was charged. Come to find out she was processed through my administrator behind my back and she did not travel through my channel. We made that known to her clearly and she understood. The authorities will only see clean business. And they will see that we care about the girls we send over there.

Are you suing CRTV as we’re learning?

No!