The United Nations Refugee agency on Monday launched a popular verification exercise meant to determine the number of residents of the Dadaab complex who are actually Kenya citizens but posing as Somali refugees.
“We are very aware that some Kenyans are falsely registering themselves as refugees in order to benefit from free services and food,” UNHCR spokesman, Duke Mwancha said.
Mwancha said his refugee agency seeks to specify within two months the exact number of Kenyans living at the camps under false pretences.
The efforts to compile a cleaner register is part of a signed agreement involving the UN and the Kenya, Somalia government that seeks to facilitate an organised return of close to 150,000 Somalis to their country by the end of the year.
The three interested parties have also jointly agreed that foreign refugees other than Somalis will be shifted from Dadaab to Kakuma camps.
About 16,000 refugees, mainly from Ethiopia and Sudan, are expected to make a 1,200-kilometre journey from Garissa to Turkana County.