Uganda’s open door refugee policy comes home to roost

As the rains beat a gentle rhythm last Tuesday, a coterie of senior government officials gathered at one of the hotels in the city business district to urgently chart a way forward on the growing refugee population in the country amid diminishing financial resources.

The closed door meeting was a testament of the huge cracks enveloping Uganda’ benevolent refugee policy, a card routinely flashed by the government on the international arena. It is also a chink in the armour in the byzantine Kampala regime-West (US/European Union) relations.