UNHCR hands over Sh2 billion assets to Garissa

The UN refugees agency has handed over assets worth Sh2 billion to the Garissa county government.

The handover marks the official closure of Ifo 2 and Kambioos camps in Dadaab de-gazetted in 2017.

The ceremony was presided over by Interior Chief Administrative Secretary Patrick Ole Ntutu and attended by UNHCR and county officials.

The facilities include schools, hospitals, police posts and boreholes.

Leaders urged the national government to fast-track the removal of Kenyans captured in the refugees database and who cannot acquire IDs.

Dadaab MP Mohamed Dahiye said it is only the removal of thousands of Kenyans from the UNHCR database that will enable them to utilize the facilities handed over.

The MP said the assets left behind in the two former camps are enormous and if left unutilized will be wasted, vandalized and eventually forgotten.

“We risk underutilizing these facilities that were meant for the over 500,000 refugees spread across the camps if Kenyans are not removed from the database and issued with ID cards,” Dahiye said.

“We have been talking to the government for years about this exercise but the response has been slow. It is my hope and prayer that with the CAS and the PS Immigration around, they will see to it that the process is fast-tracked.”

Wajir South MP Mohamed Omar asked the UNHCR to rehabilitate the degraded environment that will support the livelihoods.

Immigration PS Gordon Kihalangwa urged the leaders and residents to be patient, noting that the government was working on deregistering Kenyans in the refugee database.

“The government has been working on it for quite some time now and I want to say that we are nearing completion. It is a complex exercise that we cannot just rush,” Kihalangwa said.

The PS disclosed there were close to 13,000 unregistered people residing in Dadaab who are neither refugees nor Kenyan.

Ole Ntutu urged the county to put the facilities into full and proper use for the benefit of area residents.

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