Strictly Personal

Zambia at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum, By Isaac Mwanza

Published

5 months ago

December 15, 2023

The global spotlight will shine on Geneva, where leaders from around the world will convene for the second Global Refugee Forum. The Zambian Government delegation, led by Her Honour the Vice President, Mutale Nalumango, will make appearance at Palexpo and seize the opportunity to spotlight Zambia’s achievements in implementing pledges made during the initial global gathering in 2019.

Crucially, our Vice President will unveil concrete pledges and contributions from the new administration, led by Republican President, His Excellency, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema.

These new pledges aim to propel the objectives of the Global Compact focused on fostering tangible benefits for both refugees residing in Zambia and the communities generously hosting them. The Global Compact on Refugees, endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly on 17 December, 2019, stands as a groundbreaking international framework fostering global solidarity to empower refugees.

In Zambia, where the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security reported hosting 93,183 refugees as at October, 2023, including nearly 50 percent being children under 18, this Forum is particularly important. Of the children refugee population, 20,162 are females and 20,374 are males.

Notably, 1,489 children were born on Zambian soil in 2023 alone, inheriting the refugee status from their parents. Importantly, these refugee children, born and raised in Zambia, have never known any other home apart from Zambia. The principle of jus soli, recognizing the right to citizenship based on place of birth, underscores their claim to Zambian citizenship which we continue to deny them.

Essentially, the Zambian delegation to the 2023 Global Refugee Forum will be presenting Zambia’s more predictable and comprehensive response that covers the welfare and future of 31,694 refugee families and Zambians who live with them in those communities.

Since assuming the presidency in 2021, President Hichilema’s approach to refugee matters has somehow been methodical but the true litmus test lies in translating these commitments into tangible outcomes.

His administration has notably crafted a comprehensive national refugee policy, showcasing a new commitment to coordinated refugee response in Zambia. The implementation of an innovative modernization program for both refugees and host communities also underscores his dedication to fostering sustainable solutions.

A pivotal moment in this journey was the National Refugee Forum convened in Lusaka by this administration on 27 November, 2023 in partnership with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Zambian office.

This inclusive gathering brought together diverse stakeholders both state and non-state actors, reflecting a proactive approach towards reviewing Zambia’s progress in fulfilling its 2019 pledges. The collaborative efforts at this forum culminated in the identification of new commitments, a testament of the administration’s commitment to a more participatory process in arriving at new pledges.

But Zambia has historically grappled, not with a shortage of leaders who make good promises or enact good laws but with a shortage of leaders who are translate their words into impactful actions.

In the year 2019, the Zambian government, under the leadership of the sixth President, His Excellency Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, articulated a compelling vision for the integration and well-being of refugees. Among the seven significant pledges made, a paramount commitment was the completion of local integration for former refugees from Angola and Rwanda.

Former President Lungu’s administration recognized the need for flexibility in documentation of refugees, proposing the exploration of alternative identity documents beyond national passports for obtaining residence permits.

Recognizing the vital role refugees could play in national food security, the Lungu administration had further pledged to extend the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) to include refugees. This foresighted initiative aimed not only to enhance the livelihoods of refugees but also to contribute to the overall food production capacity of the nation.

Former President Lungu’s vision extended to the social fabric, with a commitment to integrate refugees into the national education system. From early childhood to college and university education, the pledge sought to break down barriers, providing refugees with opportunities for learning and skills development.

While the above and many other pledges were made under the Lungu administration, it is imperative to critically assess the progress made. The implementation of the pledges made under previous administration exemplified the unfortunate trend of making grand promises without genuine commitment to delivery.

Despite international support from countries such as Sweden, Belgium, Japan, Germany, the United States of America, and Britain, which poured millions into local integration programs based on Zambian government pledges, the results were dishearteningly minimal under the previous regime.

Amidst these shortcomings, there was a glimmer of promise in the Lungu administration’s commitment to reforming refugee laws. Notably, their focus on crafting the law on naturalizing former refugees and facilitating their acquisition of Zambian citizenship addressed a historical lapse unfulfilled by the preceding MMD administration under President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa.

However, despite the passage of the refugee law in 2017, the tangible results in naturalizing former refugees or facilitating their journey towards Zambian citizenship remained disappointingly elusive under the Lungu administration. That administration lacked the courage to make such bold decisions.

In the wake of the November 2023 National Refugee Forum, Zambia is set on a transformative path with the adoption of nine ground-breaking pledges. The question now is whether, under the leadership of President Hichilema, Zambia can be on the brink of opening a new chapter in its commitment to providing long-term sustainable solutions and protection to refugees lawfully living within our borders.

These new pledges, unanimously embraced by all stakeholders including key state institutions, will chart the course for the Zambian government’s response to refugee challenges over the next four years, and President Hichilema has a rare opportunity to implement such pledges with backing from all stakeholders.

Anticipating Vice President Nalumango’s announcement in Geneva, one of the standout pledges revolves around enhanced local integration and documentation. Under this pledge, the Zambian government is expected to commit itself to naturalising 50 percent of former Angolan and Rwandan refugees born in Zambia who have reached the age of 18 by the close of 2024.

This commitment finds solid legal support in Section 49 of the Refugees Act, allowing the Minister of Home Affairs to confer naturalization on former refugees, and is reinforced by Article 37 of Zambia’s Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

Another pivotal commitment expected to be articulated in Geneva is the issuance of resident permits to 30 percent of refugees by 2027. The recommendation to extend permit validity to 10 years not only streamlines administrative processes but also enhances the stability and security of refugees residing in Zambia.

Another landmark pledge aimed at improving refugee livelihoods involves the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development, who it was agreed should provide support for self-employment of refugees. Many refugees, operating informally and without contributing taxes, will now have the opportunity to legitimize their businesses. This pledge by the Zambian Government will not only benefit refugees but also contribute to Zambia’s treasury as the informal sector in which refugees operate continues to gain recognition.

Building on the momentum from the previous regime, the Hichilema administration has now received the green light from the National Refugee Forum to persist in its commitment to grant refugees access to the entire cycle of education, recommending that barriers such as study permits hindering refugee children from pursuing higher education should be removed, promising equal opportunities for all.

Recent findings from a United Nations study unveiled in September 2023 underscore the urgency of addressing education gaps for refugee children. With only 50 percent of refugee children enrolled in 14 schools across three settlements, the study highlights the need for comprehensive educational reforms.

The Hichilema administration, backed by stakeholders who gathered at the National Refugee Forum and the international community, should break down these barriers, ensuring refugee children, even those born in Zambia, have unhindered access to tertiary education, without the burden of costly study permits or restrictions.

There is a whole robust support system which this administration can capitalize on which includes the existence of a good Constitution, existing laws, both non-state and state actors who support implementation of fresh pledges Government will be committing itself to. The crucial question lingers: does President Hichilema possess the capacity to turn these commitments into tangible actions?

The track record of the previous administration, despite promising pronouncements and commendable laws, faltered in the implementation phase. The Hichilema administration now faces the challenge of not just promising change but effectively enacting the necessary reforms.

Acknowledging the negative signs of the past regime and some positives exhibited thus far by this administration, it’s essential to exercise caution to prematurely judge President Hichilema and his administration.

Implementing the pledge on naturalization of former refugees in line with Section 49 of the Refugees Act will stand as a key challenge. President Hichilema will have to raise and counter anti-refugee sentiments and attitudes among certain public officers tasked with guiding this intricate process.

While President Hichilema may be committed to implementing the law on naturalization, the path ahead requires navigating through bureaucratic challenges and ingrained attitudes among some of his top civil servants.

If Zambia take bold steps as agreed by all stakeholders in November, 2023, the country will emerge as a beacon of commitment and inclusivity, setting a precedent for transformative refugee policies on the global stage.

As Vice President Nalumango takes the stage in Geneva, she carries not just the voice of the Zambian Government but the hopes and dreams of thousands of refugees, particularly the children whose lives are entwined with Zambia.

President Hichilema’s administration has the chance to transform promises into action, setting a precedent for compassionate governance and global responsibility. In this pivotal moment, the world will witness whether President Hichilema and his colleagues are doers of the word, turning rhetoric into positive change for those who need it the most.

We wish Vice President Nalumango and Zambian delegation a productive time in Geneva and we look forward to the report.

[The author is Executive-Director of the Zambian Civil Liberties Union (ZCLU) and all contributions should be channelled to isaac@zclu.org]

Related Topics:2023 Global Refugee Forum UN Zambia

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Strictly Personal

If I were put in charge of a $15m African kitty, I’d first deworm children, By Charles Onyango-Obbo

Published

3 days ago

May 13, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

One of my favourite stories on pan-African action (or in this case inaction), one I will never tire of repeating, comes from 2002, when the discredited Organisation of African Unity, was rebranded into an ambitious, new African Union (AU).

There were many big hitters in African statehouses then. Talking of those who have had the grace to step down or leave honourably after electoral or political defeat, or have departed, in Nigeria we had Olusegun Obasanjo, a force of nature. Cerebral and studious Thabo Mbeki was chief in South Africa. In Ethiopia, the brass-knuckled and searingly intellectual Meles Zenawi ruled the roost.

In Tanzania, there was the personable and thoughtful Ben Mkapa. In Botswana, there was Festus Mogae, a leader who had a way of bringing out the best in people. In Senegal, we had Abdoulaye Wade, fresh in office, and years before he went rogue.

And those are just a few.

This club of men (there were no women at the high table) brought forth the AU. At that time, there was a lot of frustration about the portrayal of Africa in international media, we decided we must “tell our own story” to the world. The AU, therefore, decided to boost the struggling Pan-African New Agency (Pana) network.

The members were asked to write cheques or pledges for it. There were millions of dollars offered by the South Africans and Nigerians of our continent. Then, as at every party, a disruptive guest made a play. Rwanda, then still roiled by the genocide against the Tutsi of 1994, offered the least money; a few tens of thousand dollars.

There were embarrassed looks all around. Some probably thought it should just have kept is mouth shut, and not made a fool of itself with its ka-money. Kigali sat unflustered. Maybe it knew something the rest didn’t.

The meeting ended, and everyone went their merry way. Pana sat and waited for the cheques to come. The big talkers didn’t walk the talk. Hardly any came, and in the sums that were pledged. Except one. The cheque from Rwanda came in the exact amount it was promised. The smallest pledge became Pana’s biggest payday.

The joke is that it was used to pay terminal benefits for Pana staff. They would have gone home empty-pocketed.

We revive this peculiarly African moment (many a deep-pocketed African will happily contribute $300 to your wedding but not 50 cents to build a school or set up a scholarship fund), to campaign for the creation of small and beautiful African things.

It was brought on by the announcement by South Korea that it had joined the African Summit bandwagon, and is shortly hosting a South Korea-Africa Summit — like the US, China, the UK, the European Union, Japan, India, Russia, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey do.

Apart from the AU, whose summits are in danger of turning into dubious talk shops, outside of limited regional bloc events, there is no Pan-African platform that brings the continent’s leaders together.

The AU summits are not a solutions enterprise, partly because over 60 percent of its budget is funded by non-African development partners. You can’t seriously say you are going to set up a $500 million African climate crisis fund in the hope that some Europeans will put up the money.

It’s possible to reprise the Rwanda-Pana pledge episode; a convention of African leaders and important institutions on the continent for a “Small Initiatives, Big Impact Compact”. It would be a barebones summit. In the first one, leaders would come to kickstart it by investing seed money.

The rule would be that no country would be allowed to put up more than $100,000 — far, far less than it costs some presidents and their delegations to attend one day of an AU summit.

There would also be no pledges. Everyone would come with a certified cheque that cannot bounce, or hard cash in a bag. After all, some of our leaders are no strangers to travelling around with sacks from which they hand out cash like they were sweets.

If 54 states (we will exempt the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic for special circumstances) contribute $75,000 each, that is a good $4.05 million.

If just 200 of the bigger pan-African institutions such as the African Development Bank, Afrexim Bank, the giant companies such as MTN, Safaricom, East African Breweries, Nedbank, De Beers, Dangote, Orascom in Egypt, Attijariwafa Bank in Morocco, to name a few, each ponied up $75,000 each, that’s a cool $15 million just for the first year alone.

There will be a lot of imagination necessary to create magic out of it all, no doubt, but if I were asked to manage the project, I would immediately offer one small, beautiful thing to do.

After putting aside money for reasonable expenses to be paid at the end (a man has to eat) — which would be posted on a public website like all other expenditures — I would set out on a programme to get the most needy African children a dose of deworming tablets. Would do it all over for a couple of years.

Impact? Big. I read that people who received two to three additional years of childhood deworming experience an increase of 14 percent in consumption expenditure, 13 percent in hourly earnings, and nine percent in non-agricultural work hours.

At the next convention, I would report back, and possibly dazzle with the names, and photographs, of all the children who got the treatment. Other than the shopping opportunity, the US-Africa Summit would have nothing on that.

Charles Onyango-Obbo is a journalist, writer, and curator of the “Wall of Great Africans”. X@cobbo3

Strictly Personal

AU shouldn’t look on as outsiders treat Africa like a widow’s house, By Joachim Buwembo

Published

7 days ago

May 9, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

There is no shortage of news from the UK, a major former colonial master in Africa, over whose former empire the sun reputedly never set. We hope and pray that besides watching the Premier League, the managers of our economies are also monitoring the re-nationalisation of British Railways (BR).

Three decades after BR was privatised in the early to mid-nineties — around the season when Africa was hit by the privatisation fashion — there is emerging consensus by both conservative and liberal parties that it is time the major public transport system reverts to state management.

Yes, there are major services that should be rendered by the state, and the public must not be abandoned to the vagaries of purely profit-motivated capitalism. It is not enough to only argue that government is not good at doing business, because some business is government business.

Since we copied many of our systems from the British — including wigs for judges — we may as well copy the humility to accept if certain fashions don’t work.

Another piece of news from the UK, besides football, was of this conservative MP Tim Loughton, who caused a stir by getting summarily deported from Djibouti and claiming the small African country was just doing China’s bidding because he recently rubbed Beijing the wrong way.

China has dismissed the accusation as baseless, and Africa still respects China for not meddling in its politics, even as it negotiates economic partnerships. China generously co-funded the construction of Djibouti’s super modern multipurpose port.

What can African leaders learn from the Loughton Djibouti kerfuffle? The race to think for and manage Africa by outsiders is still on and attracting new players.

While China has described the Loughton accusation as lies, it shows that the accusing (and presumably informed) Britons suspect other powerful countries to be on a quest to influence African thinking and actions.

And while the new bidders for Africa’s resources are on the increase including Russia, the US, Middle Eastern newly rich states, and India, even declining powers like France, which is losing ground in West Africa, could be looking for weaker states to gain a new foothold.

My Ugandan people describe such a situation as treating a community like “like a widow’s house,” because the poor, defenceless woman is susceptible to having her door kicked open by any local bully. Yes, these small and weak countries are not insignificant and offer fertile ground for the indirect re-colonisation of the continent.

Djibouti, for example, may be small —at only 23,000square kilometres, with a population of one million doing hardly any farming, thus relying on imports for most of its food — but it is so strategically located that the African Union should look at it as precious territory that must be protected from external political influences.

It commands the southern entrance into the Red Sea, thus linking Africa to the Middle East. So if several foreign powers have military bases in Djibouti, why shouldn’t the AU, with its growing “peace kitty,” now be worth some hundreds of millions of dollars?

At a bilateral level, Ethiopia and Djibouti are doing impressively well in developing infrastructure such as the railway link, a whole 750 kilometres of it electrified. The AU should be looking at more such projects linking up the whole continent to increase internal trade with the continental market, the fastest growing in the world.

And, while at it, the AU should be resolutely pushing out fossil-fuel-based transportation the way Ethiopia is doing, without even making much noise about it. Ethiopia can be quite resolute in conceiving and implementing projects, and surely the AU, being headquartered in Addis Ababa, should be taking a leaf rather than looking on as external interests treat the continent like a Ugandan widow’s house.

Buwembo is a Kampala-based journalist. E-mail:buwembo@gmail.com