KAMPALA, March 1 (Xinhua) -- A senior aide to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Thursday the sacking of a senior official in charge of refugee affairs is "the beginning of a stronger tsunami that will sweep away all implicated officials."
Senior Presidential Secretary Don Wanyama told Xinhua that Museveni is committed to ensuring that the refugees department is streamlined in accordance with both local and international laws.
"This is just the beginning," Wanyama said. "Whoever mistreated refugees by mishandling their resources will be dealt with accordingly."
On Wednesday, Apollo Kazungu, the commissioner for refugees, was replaced by Gerald Menhya, an assistant commissioner in charge of disaster preparedness, following allegations that Kazungu and others inflated the number of refugees in Angola and stole funding and fuel intended for refugees.
Available statistics show that Uganda now hosts about 1.3 million refugees mainly from South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
However, there are reports that the number of refugees was inflated, prompting a re-registration of refugees.
"We decided, working with our partners, to commence robust biometric re-enrollment and verification of refugees in the country... to plug any possible holes in the integrity of the register of the refugees and restore confidence in the refugee operations," Uganda's minister for relief, disaster preparedness and refugees, Hilary Onek, said earlier in February.
An estimated 3,450 refugees continue to pour in daily from the DRC, Onek said at the time.
