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"id": 234846,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/234846/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Michuki",
"speaker_title": "The Minister of State for Administration and National Security",
"speaker": {
"id": 183,
"legal_name": "John Njoroge Michuki",
"slug": "john-michuki"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I stand to support this Bill. I support this Bill because it establishes a systematic way of dealing with refugees in this country who continue to increase by the day. Right now, and I am sure the Minister will have given those statistics, we have about 160,000 refugees in Dadaab and the satellite villages where they reside. It seems like every one who appears at Liboi, which incidentally is 17 kilometres away from the border with Somalia, is accepted on his or her word to be a refugee and there has been controversy as to what this implies and means to Kenya and the UN. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am in a dilemma as to whether the camps that are situated in hon. Dahir's constituency are genuine camps. They are not camps because there is no control over refugees. They come in and go out. Buses ply between refugee camps and villages and cities of this Republic. They will go to Mombasa and come to Nairobi at will without even blinking of an eye and there is no systematic way of administering the movement. The Minister has already told the House about the 4,400 Kenyans he discovered within those camps claiming to be refugees from Somalia and yet they held identity cards of this Republic. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was at Dadaab about two weeks ago and the things that I witnessed, particularly the system of registration of refugees, left quite a lot to be desired. Whereas the refugees should be registered at Liboi and then distributed to these other villages, they seem to be all over the place. Due to this, we have initiated discussions with the UNHCR 3638 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 14, 2006 representative in Kenya in order to bring some semblance of order in those areas. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I hope the Minister, during the Committee Stage, will introduce an amendment to the effect that the host country of refugees may withdraw that status six months after it has been accepted, if it is discovered that the circumstances under which the individual moved from his or her country of origin are not true as stated by him or her. We do not intend that people should be given permanent status of refugees. At the same time, I do feel and support the proposal made here that the law should provide that after the host country has assessed the situation in the country of origin, it may require the refugees to move back to their countries even if they do not want to move out. We have such a problem in Kakuma. Kenya was involved in creating peace in Southern Sudan. The Southern Sudanese are now busy building their country but there are still refugees in Kakuma who do not want to go back. I hope, therefore, that the law being enacted through this Bill will provide that, in such circumstances, the host country can demand and, in fact, enforce, the movement of such persons back to their country of origin. Of course, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) should bear the cost of such movement. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe that the House will pass this Bill because doing so will not only be in the interest of Kenya but also in the interest of the international community, and more so those of the United Nations (UN), with which we have ratified a convention to deal with refugees in an orderly manner, and in accordance with the law. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}