President William Ruto will launch the long awaited refugees’ Shirika Plan that is aimed at absorbing the group into the host communities.
Officials said
the exercise will take place at the State House in Nairobi on Friday, March 28.
The Cabinet endorsed the Shirika Plan, a transformative framework shifting Kenya’s approach from humanitarian aid to a development-focused model.
The plan seeks to integrate refugees into host communities by transforming camps into sustainable settlements equipped with essential infrastructure, resources, and economic opportunities.
Implementation will be led by a multi-stakeholder coalition, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, development partners, NGOs and faith-based organisations.
The launch has been facing resistance that led to the postponement of its launch from last year in November.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumaba Murkomen had held a consultative meeting with ambassadors, High Commissioners and heads of financial institutions on the refugee situation in Kenya ahead of the plans.
The envoys and other partners, on their part, appreciated the government’s transformative Shirika Plan, which seeks to integrate refugees into the daily economic life of the country.
“The move will be beneficial, not only to refugees, but also the host communities and the country at large,” he said.
Public participation and fine-tuning of the legal and regulatory framework, which are crucial for the success of the Shirika Plan, are underway.
Partners’ support in the innovative strategy and working closely with the host counties also hold the key to the successful rollout, the CS said.
He said they are working on the refugee database, which would provide real-time data, making it easier for authorities to plan and integrate refugee information with other government systems.
“To enhance success to services, we plan to develop a government-owned database that will be interoperable with other government systems to enable the government a real-time data for planning and manage our security,” he said.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) solely manages the database of all refugees across the globe.
The Shirika Plan will be jointly implemented by the Kenyan government, the respective county governments, the UN, and the United Nations Commission for Refugees, among others.
Under the plan, the refugees will be absorbed into municipalities within the host communities, and the latter will benefit from enhanced socioeconomic investments, including schools, health facilities, roads, and modern markets.
Phase one of the four-year project is estimated to cost $943 million (Sh115.6 billion). Two weeks ago, the refugees at Kakuma staged a protest over the reduction of food rations, which was at 65 per cent in 2023, 45 per cent in 2024 and now 40 per cent, with a projection to go down to 20 per cent from June this year.
While the refugees in Kenya were to stay for a
short period of time, they have overstayed for over 35 years.
Hours before
the launch, Lagdera MP Farah Maalim opposed it.
Maalim took to the social media to oppose the plan.
“HE Ruto
should not launch what UNHCR & Department of Refugee Affairs are calling Shirika
Plan. The hosting communities of refugees are not ready for integration. Most
refugees would opt for voluntary repatriation with generous assistance to
enable them to reintegrate back in Somalia,” he said.
He added that States
in Somalia are willing to resettle returnees and are appealing for international community
support.
He further
claimed the UN and the international community want to abandon refugees on the
lap of Kenya.
“As it is, refugees are experiencing cuts in water and food in the camps. WFP is currently
implementing what it calls Differentiated Assistance where some refugees will
not receive any food aid.”
“We are
dealing with over 800,000 refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma. President Ruto, this is
a humanitarian catastrophe in the making. We have said as much to Minister
Murkomen,” he said.
He added that the entire leadership of Garissa County is opposed to the plan.
