Plan to shut refugee camps spells doom

The announcement by Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho that the Government has disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs and will close down Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps in due course, spells doom for thousands of refugees.

Most of these refugees have known no other home apart from Kenya. Kenya has always enjoyed political stability making it a safe haven for refugees from Somalia, South Sudan, Burundi and even some from Eritrea.

There is no doubt that some of these refugee camps like Dadaab have posed security risks ever since we became a soft target for terror attacks.

But on humanitarian grounds, it will be catastrophic to close the camps.

There was a campaign by UNHCR to repatriate willing refugees to their motherland but it seems some have never gotten over the psychological torture that drove them away from their homes. These refugees prefer staying in those camps because they are at peace there.

The Government should have consulted more to implement such directives. Not only will such a move put it on a collision course with the UNHCR but many other donor countries.

The EU countries for instance are grappling with an influx of refugees from Syria but they have never been so mean to shut them out of their countries.

The Government should not make quick decisions that will drive the situation to a humanitarian crisis.