GIVE US A CHANCE AS REFUGEES

I pray this message reaches out to the concerned offices for refugees living in asylum countries .Well I am abit disturbed we as refugees we are not allowed to vote which is okay because we are not citizens , and we have to follow the laws , welcoming us should not cause a threat to the citizens , but considering our duration of stay some adjustment would be called for , for the purpose of our well-being and safety .

If possible those laws should be revised and up lifted some how , not voting the president and the members of Parliament is okay with us , but atleast give us a chance to vote for our community leaders , we should be considered as human beings who have feelings , we know what suits us . It is so sad that we are limited to participate in selecting our community leaders we happen to be in a period of voting for chairpersons , who are the first helps Incase of anything in the community , we first report in their offices to be refered were required help can be given , this former one has been so good to refugees , so understanding with a helping heart with out asking for something in form of finance as others do , the before one was a complete opposite , having a difficult chair person makes life difficult in all aspects .

Now here is the situation we like him because of his fair services but unfortunately we can not vote for him , we are allowed as refugees to vote for our group leaders as nationalities , like a leader of Congolese , Eritrea , somalis , Burundi and all refugees nationalities that are in Kampala ,Uganda , but what is their use if I may ask ? What do they help us as refugees ? They even do not know where we live because we normally meet in those refugees NGOS , which rights do we have as refugees living in an asylum country? Voting community leaders should be considered as a basic need , one of the aspirant candidates to be voted once stated that "refugees have aims of taking over their country with claims that we secretly vote when it is presidential elections " let's just assume that he is voted , do you think that we will get easy or proper services ? Then what next? A good chair person cares for all people living in a community without segregating , he stands in the middle and decides without taking sides .

Or else if we truly matter in the society let them allow us as a group of refugees living in that particular community to vote and have our own chair person , who will receive and digest our issues to be extended or refered to the required offices , we refugees in Kampala choose particular areas where rent is affordable , the best example is the Somalian community they occupy a whole area or town to the extent of naming it their capital city MOGADISHU , it consists of their business center , residences , schools , hotels , forex bureaus and all that concerns them , a chair person is required in all fields for example even if I lose a phone , I first have to report to the chair person to write me a letter which I will use for reporting at the police station then the police will write to the mobile net work to replace my lost sim card . Reporting a case to the police station requires a chair persons letter meaning that we report at the chair person's office before police station , vacating tenants who have arrears is negotiated in the chair person's office and Mr Hussein Mawanda has always been on the refugees side , requesting the landlords to add more time before deciding to vacate them , he has negotiated with schools to allow refugees children to learn and pay in bits , he does not charge refugees for letters to any office , he is always advising the community to hundle refugees with care giving reasons like most of them are traumatised , to bear with them and cooperate because of the struggles refugees face , I am just imagining what if he does not go through ? What will the next one be like ?

All in all , we matter as refugees grunt us the right to vote our community leaders they are our first helpers before reaching refugees NGOS or UNCHR , to us they value more than the last office I mean how many times do refugees reach UNCHR in their life times compared to the office of the chair person ? Having access to vote for community leaders will give us a voice to contribute to our community issues and wellbeing , we know what oppresses us , and why are we are counted if I may ask ? when it is census time what is the use of counting us as human beings and not treating us like ones ? Are we there to fill numbers ? Even animals in the jungles know their leaders in their perspective groups , it should be considered as a basic need . I humbly request the offices in charge to consider our humble request and allow us vote for only our community leaders reason being that we are part of the community we can use our refugee cards or grunt us the chance to have our own community leaders as refugees . I will highly appreciate if my request is put into consideration thank you .