President Uhuru rejects Refugee Bill

President Uhuru Kenyatta at a past State House conference. ( Photo courtesy)

Friday Bulletin.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has rejected to assent to a law that could have granted refugees access to land and right to seek employment opportunities to thousands of refugees living in the county.

The President rejected the Refugees Bill 2016 citing lack of public participation. “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,” said President Kenyatta.

The Bill sponsored by former Ndhiwa Member of Parliament Agostinho Neto was passed by the National Assembly in June 2017 and it sought to repeal The Refugee Act 2006 in order to reflect Kenya’s international obligations.

Under the proposed law, refugees or asylum seekers with professional qualifications such as doctors, engineers and architects will 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 to engage in gainful or wage-earning employment.

It also 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.

“A refugee who is residing in a designated refugee settlement or a refugee area shall have free access to use land for the purposes of cultivation or pasturing except that they shall have no right to sell, lease or otherwise alienate the land that has been allocated to them strictly for their individual or family utilization” reads the Bill.

The Bill also grants every refugee child and adult the right to access primary, secondary and adult education in accordance with the Basic Education Act 2013.

The Bill will be once more be debated by parliamentarians before it is sent back to the President.