Priti Patel’s immoral asylum and refugee policy

It's mind blowing to see the brazen attitude the UK government (Tories) has taken despite the party gate, energy crisis, Rishi Sunak’s wife’s non-dom status and many scandals that have hit Boris Johnson and his merry band of criminals. They are unstoppable, and rightly so, because they have a solid majority in parliament and a mandate from English voters to do whatever they want to make Britain great again.

So! What’s the big fuss about this new draconian refugee and asylum policy introduced by Priti Patel? Well! Quite a few legal, moral, and ethical issues to start with, as the Tories have been keen since they were voted in 2010 to copy the Australian model of immigration and dealing with asylum seekers and refugees fleeing war torn areas. 

The country of choice has a very recent history of genocide, and the current President, Paul Kagame, ex-military, has been in power since 2000 and is well known for his iron grip on the country. Kagame previously commanded the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Ugandan-based Tutsi militia. Human Rights Watch has claimed that since Kagame took office, people have been prosecuted for doubting the official government’s explanation of the genocide. 

The rights body lists a long series of murders, disappearances, politically motivated arrests, and illegal arrests of critics, opposition members, and journalists. So much for the UK government’s record for dealing with tough regimes and dictators around the world when it suits them.

The initial costs of the Rwanda scheme are £120 million for up to five years. This excludes all other support costs which the British taxpayers have to bear, and also, we have to keep in mind the UK government's obscene levels of always going over-budget by millions. Does anyone remember the original cost of rolling out Universal Credit? It was £40 million over four years! It is now over £300 million and counting. Taking responsibility is not the strongest point of this Tory government. My question is, will all refugees and those seeking asylum be sent to Rwanda once they arrive in the UK? The answer is no for now, as only Ukrainians fleeing war are being offered full support and direct access to some benefits and other privileges that other refugees and asylum seekers can only dream about. The Tories once again show utter contempt for equality, immigration, human rights and other laws, both locally and internationally.

Finally, who gets the initial £120 million contract to move refugees to Rwanda? The usual suspect is Infosys, the company that was founded by Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law! Rishi Sunak’s wife, reportedly owns a 0.91% stake in the business, which has secured £50 million in UK public sector contracts since 2015. Rishi Sunak was a shareholder in this company but transferred his shares over to his wife before he became an MP in 2015. Akshata Murty’s stake in Infosys is believed to be worth £500 million, meaning she’s likely to be richer than the Queen. Rishi Sunak has not mentioned this stake or most of his wife’s other assets in his register of financial interests—a parliamentary information resource intended to ensure open democracy. Double standards, nepotism, and corruption are what the Tories do best.

(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.)

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