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"id": 234563,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. M.Y. Haji",
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"speaker": {
"id": 26,
"legal_name": "Yusuf Mohammed Haji",
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"content": "I would also wish to commend the Minister for coming up with this very important Bill, which is overdue. In actual fact, we needed this Bill yesterday and not today. This is because, as we all know, without proper policy guidelines, it is always very difficult to manage any situation, more so, the question of refugees. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the plight of the refugees is a very sad thing. It is similar to a tree, which has grown for many years and then it is uprooted completely. Refugees are people who are displaced socially, economically and in every other respect. Some of them were business people while others were politicians. Today, most of them have lost all what they worked for, for life. They need sympathy and management of their affairs in a very prudent manner. The appointment of a Commissioner for Refugees will be something commendable. At the moment it is very unfortunate that our Government has almost abdicated its responsibility to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). I remember that when I was the Provincial Commissioner for Rift Valley Province, I had to ask for permission to visit Kakuma Refugee Camp. I had to ask for permission to visit an area for which I was a Provincial Commissioner. I have seen in the Bill that the Commissioner for Refugees will be assisted by Provincial Commissioners and District Commissioners, who are the representatives of the Government in their areas. This is a very noble idea that needs the support of everybody. Refugees go through a lot of trauma. Besides being displaced, you can imagine being confined to a place which is foreign to you and to a culture which you are not used to. In the process many refugees actually become depressed. It is very unfortunate that the UNCHR has not put in place any mechanisms for helping refugees to overcome depression. I am talking out of experience, because we live with these people in North Eastern Province. I hope that the hon. Minister will instruct the Commissioner for Refugees, once he is appointed, to discuss this issue with the UNCHR. Even rape occurs as a result of depression. Some of the refugees do not know what they are doing when they rape. Due to depression they are likely to be involved in undesirable actions like rape of small girls and married women. I would be failing in my responsibility if I do not mention the unfairness with which the UNCHR is handling local people in areas where refugees are settled. For instance, we all know that Dadaab and Kakuma areas are deserts. The UNCHR does not provide gas or electricity in these refugee camps. The refugees are left to fend for themselves and find firewood. You can imagine, 200,000 people in one place, going out in the morning to fetch firewood in a place where there is hardly any tree! I hope the Minister for Environment and Natural resources will address the issue of lack of trees together with others who are concerned. It would be important for the Government to have a programme of replacing all trees that have been cut down by refugees to make firewood. Unfortunately, this is not being done. To make it even worse, the local people do not benefit in any manner; they do not even get employment opportunities. The UNCHR recruits its workers from Nairobi. Its officers employ their friends, including girls to work in refugee camps. This is a very unfortunate situation. People in refugee camps are not offered any kind of employment. Even drivers are imported from Nairobi and other places. This is a kind of marginalisation of the people in North Eastern Province and Turkana District. I hope that the Commissioner for Refugees will have power to address this kind of problem. I do not agree with anyone who suggests that refugees should pay taxes. Where will they get money from to pay taxes when they are fed by UNCHR? They do not have any employment November 15, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3707 from which to earn a living. Nobody should talk ill of refugees, who are doing business in Eastliegh. The economy of this country is actually thriving because of the presence of refugees who get money from their Somali kinsmen in the diaspora. Those in business employ Kenyans to run their businesses. Refugees doing business should be protected. If the Government wants taxes it should allow refugees to open up businesses in Kiambu, Eldoret, Kisumu and other towns. Out of such businesses they will be able to pay taxes. But those who are in refugee camps are not able to pay taxes. It is only a person who does not know the agony refugees go through, who would ask them to pay taxes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I recall that when I was the District Commissioner, Kiambu District, we had many teachers from Uganda and Rwanda. Sometimes Kenya has benefited from her neighbours' problems by getting expatriate teaching in her schools. This happens even when our professors and lecturers leave this country. People talk about brain drain, yet these foreigners have replaced our Kenyan brothers and sisters who leave this country for greener pastures. We benefited from them because they taught in our schools. Some of them were very good teachers, who were teaching at Makerere University and other institutions before coming to Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should, therefore, appreciate and allow refugees to get legitimate employment whether in business or other areas. This will sustain them and their families. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}