Kenyans unable to get ID cards because their fingerprints appear in the refugee database have welcomed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive that elders, chiefs, national and county government officials work together to solve the issue.
Leaders raised the issue during the President’s visit to the region last week. They said bona fide Kenyans risk being deported to Somalia when the Dadaab refugee camp is closed.
Addressing a baraza in the Garissa Primary School playground, Uhuru said Kenyans who registered as refugees should not be condemned because “all they wanted is a better life after suffering during prolonged droughts”.
Northeastern leaders had accused the government of doing little to address bona fide Kenyans’ concerns.
Although the government says there are 30,000 Kenyans registered as refugees, leaders put the number at 70,000.
Dadaab MP Mohamed Dahiye had said Kenyan refugees should be categorised as internally displaced persons.
“The government needs to look at the refugee issue from a different perspective. Now that it has decided the refugees must go back to their country, it is only fair that it looks at the plight of its own citizens whose fingerprints appear in the UNHCR database,” he said.
Abdi Mohamed said he was born in Kenya, but registered as a refugee at the Ifo camp in 2006.
He said he wanted to get “the free-flowing goodies”. “I could not resist the allure of registering as a refugee after seeing many of my friends become rich in a short period. They acquired wealth from the money and materials they received as refugees,” Mohamed said.
He said he is happy with Uhuru’s directive and looks forward to getting an ID. “I had lost hope,” Mohamed said.
