Former Ndhiwa MP Agostinho Neto. file photo | nmg
Summary
President Uhuru Kenyatta has rejected a bill that gave some
500,000 refugees living in camps the right to work and use land for
business and farming, saying there was no public participation on the
proposed law.
The Refugees Bill was in line with the
shift to offer longer-term help for refugees to become more
self-sufficient after years of reliance on donors who have found it
increasingly difficult to provide for them.
Legally, all refugees in Kenya must live in camps and cannot work, even though some arrived three decades ago.
President
Kenyatta said even though the bill relates to an important aspect of
management of refugees in the country, there was no public participation
in its formulation in accordance with Article 118 of the constitution.
“In
view of the foregoing, I recommend that the said Bill should be
referred back to Parliament to allow for public input in accordance with
the Constitution,” President Kenyatta said. Refugees or asylum seekers
with professional qualifications such as doctors, engineers and
architects were to be entitled to work permits upon application in
accordance with the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act 2011.
The
proposed law allows a person who has been granted refugee status and is
in possession of valid identity card to engage in gainful or
wage-earning employment.
It provided for refugees residing in designated camps to have
free access to land for farming but without the right to sell, lease or
alienate the land.
Former Ndhiwa MP Agostinho Neto was behind the bill, which Parliament passed in June.
Lawmakers
will now look at the bill once again to address the reasons cited for
rejection before sending it back to the President.
There
have been tensions between poor locals living around the Dadaab and
Kakuma camps, who often suffer drought and hunger, and the refugees who
receive free food, healthcare and education.
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