Sunak’s Rwanda Bill a threat to Africa’s peace and stability

• Published date: 04 May 2024
• Publication title: Weekend Argus

For migrants entering the UK illegally in the hope of being granted asylum, this new legislation shuts out that opportunity. Rather those that reach the shores of the UK will be sent all the way to Rwanda, as the UK effectively outsources its migrant crisis

For the beleaguered UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, the first wave of deportations cannot come early enough.

Sunak is hoping that the outward flights of asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda will begin in July. He has pledged that the legislation will stop thousands of asylum seekers arriving on British shores.

“I am determined to end the burden of illegal migration on the British people,” Sunak has said.

There were more than 67 000 asylum applications in the UK last year, largely from people fleeing Afghanistan, Iran, India, Pakistan and Türkiye.

In the first four months of this year, more than 7 000 people arrived on the shores of Britain after journeying across dangerous seas in small boats.

Sunak’s popularity is sinking fast and furiously due to his poor management of the British economy. By purging “undesirable” asylum seekers, he is hoping to restore his sullied reputation, lift his prospects of re- election in the next election, and keep the increasingly flagging Conservative Party in office.

The Tories could be facing an epic fail in the coming election. Opinion polls across the UK point to a significant plunge in support for the governing Conservatives.

Author Samuel Earle recently wrote in The Guardian that, “Tories have always had a fear of political extinction. After the next election, they could be right”.

A cleverly crafted Bloomberg headline says it all: “UK Conservative MPs flee sinking ship before general election.”

Sunak looks set to take the Tories into what could be the party’s worst showing ever. For the sinking Sunak, the Rwanda Bill is a political life jacket.

The prime minister has tried to float the Rwanda Bill as a moral initiative which will “deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings” across the English Channel and “break the business model of the criminal gangs who exploit them”.

Human rights groups do not believe that this legislation will stop the flood of asylum seekers or stop human traffickers.

Desperate people in search of a better, safer life for themselves and their children will continue to undertake turbulent and dangerous journeys and routes to touch a shore of possibility.

The Rwanda Bill is but a buoy of populist talk and political opportunism. It...