A section of Kiambu Town residents have lauded the move by the Kenyan government to close down the Dadaab Refugee camp.
The locals said that the decision is timely since there have been allegations that terrorists had been using it to stage attacks in the country.
Speaking on Monday, Stella Kairu, a resident said that closing the camp will cushion Kenyan from terrorists who use it to attack Kenyans.
She said that as much as Kenya has been hospitable to refugees it time for them to be taken back to their home countries.
“These refuges have somewhere where the call home and must be taken back for our security to be streamlined,” she said.
George Mungai, a bodaboda operator in Kiambu said that refugees had taken advantage of the hospitality given to them by Kenyans.
“I support the government in its move to close down the Dadaab Camp and other camps,” he said.
Mungai observed that some people pose as refugees yet they are criminals who later perpetuate terrorism and criminal acts,” he said.
However, Stella Kanyuira, a peace and conflict lecturer at a private university in Limuru said that closing and repatriating refugees will not solve the issue of security.
She said that the government needs to work on loopholes on security instead of blaming on refugees.
Kanyuira said that Kenya is a member of the United Nations and a signatory to peace agreements relating to housing refugees.
She added that forceful repatriation of refugees amounts to violation of their rights under the International Human Rights.
The peace and conflict lecture urged the government to engage with the international community even as it seeks to have refugees repatriated to ensure that their rights are not violated in any way.
Kenya is seeking close the Dadaab and Kakuma camps and have the refugees repatriated.
On Monday, Deputy President William Ruto who is attending the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey told the summit that Kenya will not reverse its decision to repatriate refugees and close down the Dadaab refugee camp.
Ruto told the summit that Dadaab camp has become a burden to Kenya and a threat o security.
“The camp has been a security threat, a haven for terrorism and conduit of contraband goods as well a danger to the environment,” said the DP as quoted by the People Daily Newspaper on Tuesday.
Ruto said that Kenya will use the right and acceptable ways of repatriating the refugees back to their countries.