Millions of rupees collected from migrant workers for their welfare has been misused by the government, raising serious questions over the very purpose of the Migrant Workers' Welfare Fund (MWWF).

An internal report of the Foreign Employment Promotion Board, a body that looks after the MWWF, shows the fund had been used for government expenses in violation of the government rules. The Foreign Employment Act 2064 prohibits the use of fund for any other purpose than to serve the migrant workers and their families. 

Documents made available to the Post show that the funds have been used for purposes unrelated to migrant workers, such as purchasing cars and pay salaries to local staffers in Nepali missions, among others. The board allocated Rs 3.5 million and Rs 3 million to the Nepali embassies in Saudi Arabia and in Qatar respectively to buy cars last year, the documents reveal. Similarly, almost Rs 8 million had been spent on administrative expenses.

Interestingly, almost Rs 1 million of the fund has been spent on the 'training for professional development of manpower entrepreneurs' instead on welfare of migrant workers --the primary stakeholders. 

The Department of Foreign Employment receives an average of 2,000 complaints related to fraud of manpower agents and companies in a year. The government is found to have overlooked the existing problem of the workers in need of skill training and orientation. The department figure suggests around 75 percent of Nepali migrant workers are unskilled.

The audit report shows the government spent Rs 167,310 from the fund to celebrate the International Day for Migration.

The Act and FEPB statute state the fund will be used for "training of migrant workers, paying compensation to the injured and family of dead migrants and evacuating them during crises. Other purposes of the fund are to arrange employment-oriented training for returnees, repatriate bodies of deceased migrant workers. 

The fund will be used for free pre-departure orientation to women migrants, opening childcare centre to look after their kids and raising awareness. But, the government has confined its role to paying compensation to injured workers and to the kin of the deceased workers. Each migrant worker contributes Rs 1,000 to the welfare fund for two years. The fund currently has Rs 2.14 billion.  Officials at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, however, maintain that the fund has been used for the benefit of workers. "It should not be considered as the misuse of fund," said Buddhi Bahadur Khadka, the ministry spokesperson, defending the spending on vehicle purchases and embassy staffers.

“The resources allocated by embassies is too little to provide smooth delivery of service to the workers," said Khadka. He, however, agrees that the fund should have been used from government budget instead of using workers' money.   

Flouting the rules

- Car purchase for Nepal's mission in Riyadh: Rs 3.5 million

-  Car purchase for Nepal's mission in Doha: Rs 3 million

-   Empowerment of staffers at labour office and other centres: Rs 1.9 million

-   Promotion work of Nepal's mission in Malaysia: Rs 1.12m

-   Training for manpower entrepreneurs: Rs 844,568

-  Interaction with manpower agencies: Rs 377,309

-   Staff salary for Nepal's mission in Doha: Rs 569,760

-   Internal management at the DoFE: Rs 2.99 million 

Published on: 13 March 2014 | The Kathmandu Post