The Minister of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hillary Onek has revealed that the proposed 2000 asylum seekers from Afghanistan will be housed in hotels in Uganda and the bills footed by the United States Government.
Minister Onek made the revelation while appearing before Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee during a meeting held to apprentice MPs on the mandate of the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees.
Asked by Abubaker Kawalya (Rubaga North) why Government will host refugees at Mandela National Stadium at the detriment of sports development in Uganda, Minister Onek said there is no need for Ugandans to worry about refugees occupying the national stadium, rather, the asylum seekers will be housed in hotels across the country.
The Minister said, “I don’t want you to over worry. First of all, Namboole has never crossed our minds when we are hosting refugees. Otherwise, we would have flooded it with refugees. Namboole isn’t in the program for Afghanistan. These fellows when they come, they will be catered for by the American Government, because they are their guests. They (US Government are the ones bringing them here.”.
He added, “They (US government) are bringing them here to hold them here while the American Government processes their documents for the onward journey to America. And therefore, we shall put them in hotels, after all our hotels have been starving of customers, our hotels should start money from these undertakings, so don’t worry about Namboole.”
