Over 140,000 refugees live in Kampala alone – report
Congolese refugees receive food from UNHCR officials in Hoima District in 2017. Over 149,000 refugees live in Kampala alone. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Mr Rasik Kiwanuka, an economic planner with the Kampala Capital City Authority, advised refugees in urban areas to adapt to similar terms as Ugandan nationals to access finances.
According to a report by the Office of the Prime Minister, as of July 2023, 141,966 refugees, which is nine per cent of the total refugee population (1,578,661), are living in Kampala.
This number is significantly higher than the 67,492 refugees who were present in December 2020.
The report further indicates that the current refugee population consists of 57,363 people from Somalia, 35,916 from Eritrea, 28,551 from DR Congo, 8,195 from Ethiopia, 6,117 from South Sudan and 5,824 from Burundi among other countries.
“60 per cent of these refugees are women and children. The majority of the refugees (70 per cent) are aged between 18 and 59 years,” the report reads in part.
92 per cent of the refugees live in settlements within 12 rural districts of the country under a self-reliance project where they are given plots of land to cultivate and build houses.
Mr Rasik Kiwanuka, an economic planner with the Kampala Capital City Authority, advised refugees in urban areas to adapt to similar terms as Ugandan nationals to access finances.
“Refugees in secondary cities and municipalities in the country had not been recognized until recently after dialogue with the Cities Alliance Network. Therefore, they must adopt similar terms as nationals,” he said.
In a related development, research by African Women and Youth Action for Development (AWYAD) on refugees and host community relationships found out that the majority of them have learned to live as good neighbours.
This research finding comes at a time when there have been clashes between refugees and host communities resulting from sharing scarce resources in a locality.
“One of the reasons for the clashes between the two communities was the refugees' lack of understanding of the Ugandan legal and administrative systems, which created problems with host communities,” the research findings indicate.
However, Ms Catherine Nakasinde, advocacy and influencing officer at AWYAD, said that refugees have now become acquainted with Ugandan legal and administrative systems, bringing them closer to host communities and thus peaceful co-existence.
“Inter-marriages have also contributed to peaceful co-existence, as both families can no longer live as foes or enemies. Additionally, many of the current growing population of refugee children were born in Uganda,” she said.
