UNHCR boss Grandi visits Uganda

Rallies donors to respond to refugee funding crisis

Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees returned to Uganda after three years to morale-boost donor support for Uganda’s faltering refugee response.

The UN refugee agency which Grandi heads is grappling for resources to meet the needs of the 1.4 million refugees currently residing in the country. The majority of the refugees are from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The last time Grandi was in Uganda, it was facing the world’s fastest growing refugee influx, thanks to a continuous and record entry of people fleeing brutal conflict in neighbouring South Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In June 2017, the UN supported Uganda to host  the first ever Refugee  Solidarity Summit with the aim of raising up to US$2bn every year over the next years in order to ably respond to the looming humanitarian challenges in the country.  But of the targeted US$ 2bn, only US$ 358 million was pledged.

A few months after the summit, a whistle blower tipped off donors saying senior government officials in the Office of the Prime Minister were conspiring with staff from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to report higher refugee numbers, get more money to support them and skim off the difference between what is received and what is actually spent on the actual smaller number of refugees. That was a scandal and the donors led by the European Union, demanded an immediate investigation.

The government acted swiftly, suspending the Commissioner for refugees in the Office of the Prime Minister alongside three other senior staff. The UNHCR also recalled its country representative for failing to detect the alleged mismanagement of refugee resources.

As Grandi returned, according to a funding update published by the UNHCR on March 09, the refugee agency requires up to US$ 344.8 million in 2021 but has so far received US$ 44.5 million or 13% of the total funds required. Whether the agency will get the US$300 million remains to be seen.

Uganda currently hosts about 1.4 million refugees, majority of whom live in rural settlements where they are given small plots of land to begin new lives.

Uganda, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, remains the only refugee hosting nation that has developed comprehensive plans for managing refugees. Following the launch of the so-called comprehensive refugee response framework in 2017, the government has gone ahead to include refugees in the national development plans and endorsed sector plans to improve delivery of social services in refugee-hosting districts, namely education, health, water and environment, and jobs and livelihoods. However, to implement this framework, the international community must give support to Uganda. But this aid has not been forthcoming as government officials possibly expected.

Last year, Hilary Onek, Uganda’s Minister of Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees stopped short of accusing some members of the international community of reneging on pledges they made to Uganda. He accused some members of the international community of causing conflict in countries such as DR Congo and South Sudan.

“If the international community will not cooperate with us to get a solution on how to manage these refugees, we might have to be forced to return them back to their countries. Because we don’t have the money. As a government, our budgets are very lean,” Onek said.