- Controversy surrounds Rwanda’s plans for UK asylum seekers
- Hope Hostel and Bwiza Estate designated to accommodate them
- Concerns arise over employment, housing, and economic sustainability
The controversies surrounding two areas in Kigali that may soon house hundreds of individuals who never intended to settle in Rwanda are belied by the verdant hills.
Situated atop a ridge in northern Kigali, the Hope Hostel provides a panoramic view of the capital.
Situated in the southwest region of the city is the Bwiza Riverside Estate, which presents a picturesque ambiance complemented by artificial fences, small parcels of land, and manicured green spaces. Despite the suburban allure of this neighbourhood, it feels sterile and contrived.
The government of Rwanda has designated the two locations to accommodate asylum seekers who are anticipated to be transferred from the United Kingdom to the East African nation as part of a $272 million (220 million pound) agreement to relocate refugees who arrive at British shores.
Late on Monday, following months of deliberation and concerns regarding the deal’s impact on human rights, the measure was successfully passed by the parliament of the United Kingdom.
Despite an onslaught of objections from refugee rights activists and concerns regarding the plan’s legality, cost, and feasibility, it is anticipated that the legislation will soon be signed into law.
Identified localities
On the periphery of Kigali, the Hope Hostel neighbourhood is bustling with moto-taxis, street vendors, and imposing villas.
The hostel, as stated by its managing director, Ismael Bakina, accommodates a maximum of one hundred visitors in its fifty double rooms.
At the outset, the hostel served an alternative function. Survivors of the 1994 genocide, which murdered nearly a million people, primarily Tutsis from minority ethnic backgrounds, resided there until two years ago.
However, after a strictly regulated tour of the premises by former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2022, the surviving individuals were forcibly evacuated without viable housing alternatives.
As of yet, the hostel remains vacant, anticipating the conclusion of the political process in the United Kingdom. As soon as the first flights depart, it will be prepared to receive asylum seekers.
Rwanda has frequently been subject to criticism by rights organizations due to its repressive political climate and limitations on freedom of expression. Following their critique of the government, journalists, opposition figures, and activists have been subjected to apprehension or even abduction. Those residents who did express their opinions did so in a clandestine manner, with some providing a more impartial perspective.
A Dativ, a 35-year-old woman, expressed that the proposal appeared to be an excellent idea due to the influx of funds into Rwanda and the additional workforce that asylum seekers would contribute to the service sector. The primary economic sectors of Rwanda are agriculture, tourism, and services.
Taxi driver and resident of the same district, a 45-year-old man who declined to provide his name, stated that the situation could be bidirectional: while relocated asylum seekers might put locals in competition for job opportunities, they could also provide Rwandans with more employment opportunities.
A spokesman for the Rwandan government stated that British asylum claimants would be provided with vocational training and integrated into the labour market.
However, Rwanda is confronted with an employment crisis; the World Bank estimates that 15 percent of the labour force will be unemployed in 2023, with the adolescent unemployment rate exceeding 20 percent.
Certain individuals within the populace express these concerns while maintaining anonymity. The asylum seekers “went to the United Kingdom in search of a better life, not to obtain entry visas,” a middle-aged man in a suit from Kigali said.
“Will they receive employment or something to do here from the government?” They did not travel to the United Kingdom for pleasure; therefore, do you believe they will have the same existence here as they would have had they remained there?
Crisis of unemployment and housing
The United Kingdom has allocated an initial sum of 220 million pounds ($272 million) to Rwanda to host asylum seekers for five years.
Furthermore, for the subsequent five years, irrespective of the number of individuals transferred to Rwanda, the UK has pledged 370 million pounds ($456 million). As opposed to this, the UK auditor estimates that each asylum applicant will cost taxpayers approximately $2.2 million (1.8 million pounds) if the law is passed.
“They will be unable to obtain employment.” They will have funds from the United Kingdom, but what happens after that expires? Leader of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and the sole opposition politician elected to parliament.
“We are a small economy with low employment and high unemployment,” the aspiring presidential candidate in July.
Population growth is underway in Kigali, which is home to over 1.2 million people, whereas Rwanda has one of the most densely populated areas in sub-Saharan Africa.
The World Bank reports that more than half of the country’s estimated 13 million inhabitants survive on less than $2 per day.
The escalating housing demand in Kigali is parallel to the government’s repurposing of spaces to house asylum seekers, which has incited a storm of dissenting viewpoints behind closed doors.
In 2019, the government demolished informal housing in Kigali, leaving thousands of people destitute. In exchange for temporary relocation, the owners of the properties the displaced individuals were occupying at the time of the demolition were offered only about $100 per person.
Sixty percent of the population, according to the Kigali administration, resides in informal settlements vulnerable to climate change-induced natural hazards, whereas only nine percent of Rwandans can afford the most affordable houses on the market. About $100 is the average monthly income per household.
If the government fails to meet its housing development objectives and the city’s population increases, the scarcity of affordable housing is projected to double by 2050.
A “PR move”
Abandoned appears to be the Bwiza Riverside Estate in southern Kigali. During a meticulously organized visit, former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman promoted the facility as a potential residence for asylum applicants.
The development was constructed with the assistance of the Kigali government to provide Rwandans with affordable accommodation. It offers a variety of sizes and price points, with residences priced below $30,000 being exclusively available for purchase through a government initiative that assists Rwandan citizens in acquiring affordable housing with development bank loans. For houses priced higher than that, the client conducts business directly with ADHI, the housing complex’s developer.
In February, the managing director of ADHI disclosed to local media that the organization had sold nearly 70% of the affordable housing units that were intended to accommodate asylum claimants from the United Kingdom. The figure “is simply not true” because the government has collaborated with ADHI since the complex’s inception in its development. No response has been received from the developer in response to multiple requests for comment.
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In order to demonstrate to Suella Braveman that the Rwandan government had sufficient housing for refugees, they displayed the Bwiza estate,” said opposition figure Victoire Ingabire, who was previously prohibited from politics and imprisoned for her vehement criticism of the government.
“It was a public relations manoeuvre; they simply wanted to show them something, and that is all they had at the time, since they did not know whether the deal would materialise.”
Rwanda has negotiated agreements with other facilities and will sign leases as soon as flights are verified.
Hope Hostel and Bwiza Riverside Estate can accommodate approximately 500 individuals. On small vessels, nearly 30,000 individuals arrived in the United Kingdom in 2023. Leaked Home Office documents indicate that sending the same number of asylum claimants to Rwanda in the first five years would cost 5 billion pounds ($6.2 billion).
A Home Office spokesperson said, “We have kept it clear that the scheme is uncapped, and we remain committed to launching flights as quickly as possible.”
