Five refugees have been charged before Kapenguria law court for residing outside the designated area without authority contrary to section 25(F) of the refugees act No 3 of 2006. Police at Makutano roadblock arrested the refugees, who included two men and three women.
The refugees, Aziza Mohammed, Haluwo Abdi, Mirriam Abdi, Ayub Mohammed and Shanifo Hassan were nabbed last week at the roadblock along Kapenguria-Kitale road within West Pokot County by traffic officers.
The officers suspected they had either escaped from the refugee camp or entered the country illegally, prompting the arrest and later arraignment in court.
The Somalian nationals were found outside the designated area namely Kakuma without authority from refugee department and they were heading to Nairobi.
In their mitigation, the suspects who admitted to having boarded the Nairobi-bound bus had different explanations when taking the plea.
The court heard that some of the suspects were travelling to Nairobi to get specialized treatment while some of them said they have relatives in Nairobi and were going to visit them.
Kapenguria senior resident magistrate Vincent Adeti however, found that the suspects had legal documents to be in the country but had moved out of the camp illegally.
Before senior resident magistrate Adeti the five admitted the charges and were fined Kshs 2000 each or 30 days in prison.
The five paid the fine and he subsequently ordered their immediate repatriation to the Kakuma refugee camp under the supervision of Kapenguria police boss.
