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There is no reason why these funds should be returned. The United Kingdom has not made the request, the (UK) government has not said that if they terminate the Treaty, the funds have to be returned.
Rwanda’s Deputy Government Spokesman said recently that the agreement with the UK to deport asylum-seekers to the East African nation included no stipulation about repaying funds. This comes after the UK’s incoming Labour leader Keir Starmer said Saturday that the controversial scheme was “dead “; and his government vowed to scrap the policy.
The spokesperson said that the money given was not a loan to Rwanda. It was for creating capacity for a specific purpose. Those actions have been carried out. There is no reason why these funds should be returned. The United Kingdom has not made the request, the (UK) government has not said that if they terminate the Treaty, the funds have to be returned.
If the UK government has decided that the Treaty is terminated and can no longer be implemented, then, Rwanda takes notice of the decision and complies with it, the spokesperson further added.
The plan was billed by the previous British government as a solution that would deter migrants from risking their lives on a journey to illegaly enter the UK as they could be deported to East Africa. It has cost the government 300 million dollars and court battles, with no deportation flight taking off so far. He also clarified that if there are other proposals to solve the problem of migration, Ewanda would take part, negotiate, and examine them and if they are interesting, it would become a part of them.
Through a USD 462.7 million agreement signed by the two countries in 2022, British taxpayers’ money funded the maintenance of the hotels built in Rwanda to host deported asylum-seekers. These funds have been used against designated purposes. Also, the agreement that signed did not stipulate that the money should be returned in the event of abandonment of the project.
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It is significant to note that in an interview with a news channel last year, Botswana’s foreign minister, Lemogang Kwape disclosed that the British government approached Botswana to receive migrants deported from the UK. This came in the wake of earlier reports in the British press suggesting that the UK government sought to implement a scheme similar to its controversial Rwanda initiative in Botswana, Armenia, Ivory Coast, and Costa Rica.
