KENYA REFUGEES IN UGANDA ARE RELUCTANT TO RETURN HOME, DESPITE ASSUARANCES THAT CALM AND PEACE NOW PREVAILS.

Writes Leo Odera Omolo in Kisumu City.

SOME Kenyan refugees who fled to Uganda after the bloody 2007 presidential polls have made it clear that they would prefer remaining in that country, as they are much safer there than in their own country.

These Kenyans fear that history will repeat itself, come the next general election, schedule for December 2012, since key issues on land and ethnicity conflicts are not adequately being addressed.
These Kenyans have been living at the Kiryayadongo refugee settlement Camp in Masindi, in northwestern Uganda.

According to the United Nation High Commission for Refugee, 12,000 Kenyans fled to Uganda in early 2008, at the height of post election violence, following the hotly disputed presidential election results.

But soon after the signing of a peace agreement, that led to the formation of a grand coalition government, many slowly returned home.

Some 2,300 Kenyans were granted refugee status, out of whom, 400 have agreed to return home before the end of the year.

Those remaining behind have been closely following events in Kenya, especially the chest-thumping public utterances by senior politicians and heir supporters, and fear that what happened in 2008 could recur before or after the 2012 general elections.

R Peter Karanja, who is the chairman of the Kenyan community at the refugee camp, was last week quoted by the influential EASTAFRICAN  weekly, as saying that decisions to return home depend largely  on how much a person lost in  the flare up of 2008.

Karanja said he was the campaign agent for President Mwai Kibaki, a fact that “my neighbors disliked. No matter how much money the government gives me, I will not return home because ethnicity is still an issue”, said Mr.Karanja.

Karanja added that those who had agreed  to return home either did not lose much, or were petty small-scale traders, who can easily pick up their lives.

In a move to encourage voluntary repatriation, the government of Kenya is giving  467 British Sterling Pounds per each family,  and the Office of the Prime Minister is toping it up with 50 British sterling pound.

The Office of the Prime Minister is also allocating each family a parcel of land measuring 50 meters  by 100 meters.

But many refugees say the money is insufficient, and camp life is far better. They have access to basic medical facilities, free education for their children and “comfortable” living spaces for each family. They are also free to cultivate parcels of land provided to them.

On the other hand, those who agreed to be repatriated home are  said to be still rather hesitant. Some have left there with caretakers, meaning they can return to Uganda and claim it.

Ms Rosemary Chepkwemo, a single mother from Mt Elgon district in Western Province  is reported to have told an  interviewer that she will not bulge either. At the time the weekly newspaper reporter arrived in the camp, her mother had traveled all along from Kenya, to persuade here to return home.

“Life back home is difficult, my husband went missing during the post election violence, and I still do not know his whereabouts. Here at the camp, my children attend school for free learning,” she added.

It has also been established that not all the Kenyan refugees in Uganda went there following the post-elections violence of 2008. Some of them are said to have gone to that country while escaping the atrocities committed by Sabaot Land Defence Force, guerrilla movement who were operating in Mt Elgon district, prior to the genera elections, and whose war claimed more than 200 lives.

The rebellion forced the Nairobi regime to dispatch a contingent of Kenya army men, who joined hands with the regular police and the General Service Unit {GSU} to eventually crush the insurgency, but only after many residents of the district had fled into the neighboring Uganda.

Hundred of the Sudanese refugees who share the camp with the Kenyans also remain reluctant about returning home Their country awaits a referendum vote, slated for 2011,that will decide the fate of the South – whether it should become an independent state, or continue to be part of the Khartoum regime. But many nationals think the exercise will breed violence.

Recently, the UNHCR conducted an Internal Survey to determine why people were unwilling to return to return to their countries. Sudanese and Kenyan nationals expressed similar sentiments.

Topping the list of concerns is security in coming elections, followed by access to education, then healthcare. Others said they would return as soon as they had harvested their crops, while a number felt the environment in Uganda was more conducive to their freedom.

Mr Antony Oba, secretary general of the Refugee Welfare Council, was quoted in the report as saying that “Some of our people are HIV positive and are on antiretroviral drugs, which the government of Uganda provides free of charge. They fear returning to Southern Sudan, they won’t get the drugs anymore.”

During the survey, the refugees were offered four options; Voluntary repatriation, local integration, but retain their refugee status; reallocation to another camp; or resettlement to a third country. The majority preferred their present location.

Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo..com