Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen lauded continued support from donors amid the changing donor funding policies.
He said their commitment remains vital in easing the burden that Kenya carries by hosting refugees who now number more than 800,000.
He also commended the US government for lifting the ban on humanitarian funding.
He spoke after a consultative meeting with ambassadors, High Commissioners and heads of financial institutions on the refugee situation in Kenya held at a Nairobi hotel.
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 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 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.
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.
On access to banking, the government, he said, is similarly working with other agencies to have the Know Your Customer (KYC) under the Anti-Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crimes Act, which has been amended to include refugee ID as a KYC document.
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).
Last week, 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 percent, with a projection to 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.
Present were ambassadors and high commissioners led by US Embassy Charge ď Áffaires and Chair Refugee Donor Group Amb. Marc D. Dillard.
Others included the UN Resident Coordinator Dr Stephen Jackson and UNHCR Country Representative Caroline Van Buren.
The Principal Secretary for Immigration and Citizen Services Prof Julius Bitok and other ministry officials were in attendance.
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