Monday, May 13, 2013
Prisons or Asylum/Refugee Camps - A business? Why not?
Well, if one can make a business out of Asylum/refugee Camps, then why not?
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/British-MPs-want-asylum-seekers-camp-set-up-in-Kenya/-/2558/1751796/-/1231gdl/-/index.html
My (preliminary) thoughts:
The Brits pay Kenya(ns) $1,000 per month per refugee.
House them in a building built with Bamburi cement, roads built by Kenyan [more likely the Chinese] firms using Kenyan engineers and labor.
Provide them with food grown (and processed) by Kenyan farmers (and agro-industrial firms); clothing and linen made by a Kenyan firm [EPZ] and labor; basic medical care provided by Kenyan doctors, nurses and support staff; pricier care can be billed to the UK authorities; hire Kenyan wardens to guard them. The rungus could be made in Kariobangi. The bullets in Eldoret. The batteries for the torches in Eldoret. The patrol cars assembled by AVA in Changamwe. The petrol [probably local production in 5 years] supplied by KenolKobil.
Kenya(ns) can build the refugee center in a remote part of Kenya that cannot be farmed [arid] and is far away from any major town [I can provide multiple examples]. If they send us 1,000 refugees at $1,000 per month, the gross revenue is $1,000,000 per month. That is $12,000,000 per year at KES 84/$ = KES 1,000,000,000 per year. Not many firms in Kenya have that sort of annual revenue!
Add the benefits Kenya Airways gets from flying family members, British immigration officials, lawyers, etc to/from Kenya to visit these refugees as well as staying at Kenyan hotels, eating at Kenyan restaurants and using other services like phones [Safaricom, Orange, Airtel, Yu], internet, photocopying and faxes. Many Kenyans can start taxi services to/from Nairobi/Eldoret/Mombasa to the Refugee Centers. Western Union, PesaPal and M-Pesa can set up branches at the Refugee Center as can Safaricom/Airtel/Orange/Yu.
Asylum seekers need paper. Lots of paper. Forms, IDs, cards, etc that can give River Road the boost it does not need.
Look at this as a business and toss out those xenophobic and neo-colonial balderdash out of the window.
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4 comments:
Dadaab has a larger population than Kisumu and there is a business ecosystem that fuels and feeds that part of the country.
@bankelele - I am ambivalent about those refugee camps like Dadaab. I was referring to 'paid-for' refugees from UK, etc which has an interest in funding these camps.
You see holes leaking with special programs, relief food being sold and MP's battling the Red Cross in parliament over food distribution whenever there's a famine
I see dollar signs all round, somewhat like the privatised prison system in the US. Ill definitely be writing myself up some retirement cheques on that ;-)
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