Refugees in urgent need of help

Correspondent | Friday January 17, 2014 16:39

The problem facing refugees in Botswana is not a new one. It started more than 10 years ago. We might not be able to narrate all the events due to many circumstances but we can briefly state the source of the suffering. There is an elite group in government that seems to be benefiting from our suffering. We analysed it and we have come to conclude that it is a very well organised system which embodies in the Office of the President, the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security, as well as previous and current officials and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). This system was created by Ross Sanoto, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, and a director in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security.

It has come to our knowledge that both the Permanent Secretaries in these two ministries are also involved. There are other people as well, such as the Settlement Commandant's office in Dukwi, the Officer in Charge at the Francistown Detention Centre, and the Refugee Advisory Committee (RAC) that is chaired by the District Commissioner for Francistown. The system reaches UNHCR representatives in the country who also play a vital role in the sustainability of it. Ross Sanoto plays the biggest part in sustaining the system. He acts as an intermediary between UNHCR representatives and top government officials such as the President, the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security and the Permanent Secretaries. It is a well-organised system that was created by senior government officials in charge of refugee issues in these ministries. This system is centred on big numbers of refugees in the country. Refugees are registered and kept in big numbers to help the officials solicit for funding to enrich themselves under the pretext of having a good welfare system for refugees. Well-meaning and responsible UNHCR officials have added onto the voices of refugees regarding the situation. However, doing so means interrupting the system, so it is either they are framed or sent packing. Botswana refugees lead one of the most difficult lives on Earth. Imagine that one is not supposed to leave the refugee camp.

If one requests permission to do so, one is given only three days. Further, only 15 refugees out of 3,000 get a permit per week, and that is if the person is very lucky (this is due to the country's encampment policies) or is loyal to the officials at Dukwi. Refugees have no access to jobs, are not provided with any form of clothing and have no right to education. Surprisingly, a refugee gets approximately $18/monthly food ratio. We have seen different Heads of UNHCR, protection officers, resettlement officers in Botswana over the past 10 years. For all the present and previous UNHCR officials, these UNHCR officials had only two approaches to their work: You become loyal to the system by sacrificing your profession in order to remain working in the country, or you stick to your professional ethics and get framed or sent packing. The current policies regarding refugees are so inhuman. While it is true the government doesn't want us in this country, but there are government and UNHCR officials who benefit from our suffering.With the protection of the Permanent Secretaries and Ross Sanoto, the UNHCR top officials, who are normally foreigners, must maintain the system. Otherwise they must leave the country. Normally UNHCR office is headed by a Chief of Mission whose responsibility is to ensure the wellbeing of refugees. This higher UNHCR officer has to follow the recommendations made by such officers. This UNHCR officer is the one responsible for presenting refugee figures to UNHCR headquarters in Geneva. The Geneva headquarters uses the figures provided to provide the finances. Millions of dollars are then sent annually for taking care of refugees, but this money ends up in the pockets of these officials. Less than $20 (P150) is spent on a refugee monthly. To make matters worse, these government officials and UNHCR representatives exaggerate refugee numbers. While there are roughly 2,500 refugees in Botswana, the numbers are always inflated to more than 3,400 refugees to Geneva. That is why these officials wouldn't want even a single refugee to be resettled because that would mean loss of 'income' to them. Currently UNHCR is headed by Madam Lynn Ngugi who has been in the country for more than four years.

She has been presenting wrong reports regarding refugee issues in Botswana. For instance, on the instructions of the Permanent Secretaries and Sanoto last year, Madam Ngugi went to Pretoria to cancel our resettlement programme that would have seen the 'overstayed' 120 refugees in Botswana being resettled in Australia. Working on the Permanent Secretaries' and Sanoto's instructions, Ngugi went to the regional UNHCR offices and told them that the Government of Botswana was in the process of issuing out citizenships to the overstayed refugees. This was supported by the assurance that Ngugi gave us in a meeting. She openly stated that they were close to a deal to make us live equally with Batswana, thus becoming citizens. Some of us questioned her statement because we knew that this was a blatant lie. Some of us have stayed in this country for more than 15 years but we are still being treated like dogs. We have studied the system carefully and we know how it works. But as for the sustainability of the system, there are cracks in UNHCR.

The former officer Madam Kgalifela, who was assigned the task of maintaining and updating the Permanent Secretaries and Sanoto, resigned last year. Ngugi is now frustrated after realising that she has been used but she cannot get out of the system. Our main concern is how to expose the system because if the same Permanent Secretaries and Sanoto remain in place, our suffering will continue. The situation is so bad that P7 million seems to have disappeared without trace. The office responsible for overseeing how this money was to be used is the Permanent Secretary's where Sanoto is also based. So if the Permanent Secretary and Sanoto don't know what happened to that money, then these officials should tell us who should be asked about it. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security is entrusted by the government to oversee refugee issues. The UNHCR's former education officer, Kgalifela, quit her job last year due to the fact that money meant for education was diverted after the numbers of refugees were exaggerated. Money is solicited for some projects such as welfare, education, medical attention, and shelter. Refugees are being terribly abused, women are raped, breastfeeding mothers are beaten, refugees are arrested for no reason and taken to detention centres without anybody questioning these government agents. For how long will this go on? In 2012, refugees spent more than four months without paraffin, which constitutes part of the $18 monthly ratio. That meant four months without cooking. When one tries to complain, one is intimidated and even arrested. Sometimes refugees are taken to mental hospitals as a way of silencing them. Due to the ongoing suffering of refugees, some refugees and a few caring UNHCR officials approached resettling countries and a number of countries made several attempts to try and help the refugees. However, Sanoto and his corrupt partners blocked them. One such blockage to recall was in 2013 when the Australia government wanted 120 long stayed refugees.

Sanoto, through Ngugi, stopped the process. In 2009 and 2003, offers from Australia were frustrated again. Countries in the region are resettling refugees in other countries. What is the problem with leaving Botswana where we are underfed, our clothes are threadbare, women in their periods stain their threadbare dresses because they are not provided with even pads, girls have to sell their bodies in order to get by, and even the water supply is regularly disrupted? The process of helping refugees who had stayed for more than nine years in Botswana started in 2012 and was pioneered by the former Protection Officer Madam Jane Akelo. This angered the Permanent Secretaries, Sanoto and the Chief of Mission who all fabricated ways of framing Akelo as a result. She had no alternative but to resign from her job as her predecessor had done. Akelo's predecessor, (Madam Maureen) was sent packing after she attempted to help refugees get permanent solutions.Hence we appeal to Geneva to replace the current Chief of Mission and the Resettlement Officer with people of integrity. We also call on Geneva to send an independent panel to investigate these issues. The investigation should cover money spent in medical attention, food, shelter, the detention centre, allowances, education, suppliers of food, resettlement, physical examination of refugees, and the shelter building project that is sponsored by the American government. We also humbly request President Ian Khama to order investigation of Ross Sanoto and both the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security. As a matter of fact, the self-aggrandisement of these three and others is the main cause of refugee suffering in Botswana.