A Member of Parliament opposed the launch of Shirika Plan which is aimed at absorbing the group to the host communities.
Lagdera MP Farah Maalim termed the plan bad.
This came as president William Ruto planned to launch the exercise at 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.
Maalim took to 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 States in Somalia are willing to resettle returnees and appealing for international community support. “Governors from refugees hosting communities and civil service bureaucrats are obsessed with laying their hands on the USD1 billion offer from UN and donors.”
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 the entire leadership of Garissa County are opposed to the plan.
The launch has been facing resistance that led to the postponement of its launch from last year in November.
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 in 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 would provide real-time data, making it easier for authorities to plan and integrate refugee information with other government systems.
“To enhance the success to services, we plan to develop a government-owned database that will be interoperable with other government systems to enable the government have 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 move by the government follows the revelation during a high-level forum on refugee affairs organised by the National Assembly’s Regional Development Committee in Mombasa in November 2024.
During the forum, Commissioner for Refugee Affairs John Burugu disclosed that the country’s current refugee database, which is held by the commission, is stored in Hungary.
The regulations, he said, will soon be forwarded to parliament for adoption.
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.
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