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{
    "id": 707368,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/707368/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 90,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Oyugi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 444,
        "legal_name": "Augostinho Neto Oyugi",
        "slug": "augostinho-neto-oyugi"
    },
    "content": "Part VI of Clause 45 talks about designated areas. Early on, I spoke to an encampment policy. Ordinarily, this is a policy on where refugees are supposed to be staying for only a short period of time. When the Somalia refugees came into the country in the 1990s, they were given sections of Dadaab where they were supposed to be staying. But because there is no proper control of designated areas, we have ended up with refugees intermarrying with local communities. If you go to Dadaab right now, you will find it difficult to differentiate between the people in the camp and members of the host community. This is because the designated areas were not clearly marked and designated. It is important that should we, for example, choose to relocate Dadaab Refugee Camp to some other place, we properly designate the area. This will help us have control in those areas. The CS is supposed to control the designated area to ensure that there is organisation, safety, discipline and good administrations. Issues of transfer in a manner that people who are being transferred are not subjected to vetting should not be there. There are provisions of this Bill that we have agreed with the Committee to remove. I would like to request my colleagues to ensure that they read the Committee Report because it has certain corrections that we have agreed on. We had proposed to include something called “Trust Fund” for purposes of supporting refugees and giving them durable solutions, but we agreed with the Committee that it might create an impression among refugees that they are here permanently. We have agreed that refugee status is not permanent. Refugee status ought to be temporary as we try to sort out the insecurity issues that made people refugees. Hon. Deputy Speaker, we have miscellaneous provisions in this Bill which provide for penalties of violations of the law. Those are general penalties. They talk about various penalties that both officers and people who misrepresent issues can be subjected to. There is Part VIII from Clause 57 which talks about national and regional co-operation. This is basically about international principles of co-operation with regard to refugee issues. Nothing is new there. We basically lifted some of the provisions from the UNHCR as well as the Protocol of the African Union (AU) on the Convention on the Rights of Refugees. There is something that I spoke to earlier on which is carried under Clause 64 of this Bill. It is with regard to something called the “the authorised officer.” We are thinking that the “authorised officer” should have certain powers. Those powers are highlighted under Clause 64. Some of the powers include searching personal property, taking fingerprints, palm prints or photographs of any recognized refugee or protected person or any person who claims to be a The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}