Braverman disappointed that Rwanda properties earmarked for migrants have been sold
Former home secretary Suella Braverman said she is disappointed that properties earmarked for migrants deported from the UK have instead been sold to local buyers in Rwanda.
Of the 163 affordable homes on the Bwiza Riverside estate, 70% have been sold, meaning there is only space for a few dozen migrants, the Times reports.
The former minister said construction work was “progressing steadily” when she visited Kigali in March last year.
Ms Braverman previously described the homes built as part of 257-unit scheme as “beautiful” and complimented the interior design.
The prices of the properties funded as part of a public-private partnership between the Kigali government and ADHI Corporate Group range between £14,000 and £27,000.
‘Private people’
A manager at the estate said the homes had been sold to “private people who want to live in them”.
Speaking to LBC, Ms Braverman criticised the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament.
She said the Government’s current plan will not deliver and she could only see a “token flight” taking off.
The Fareham MP said: “I’m disappointed to read that expectations have fallen and that the Rwandans are now selling off some of those properties.
“Because the way the plan should work – and the plan that I put forward to the Prime Minister – is that we need to have a large number of flights going to Rwanda on a regular basis, with a large number of passengers on them.
“I do believe that we may well get a flight off, a token flight with a low number of passengers on it, to Rwanda – that’s not deterrence.
“The only way we generate a deterrent effect to stop people getting on the boats and coming to the UK illegally is regular flights with hundreds of passengers on those flights being sent to Rwanda on a regular basis.
“I’m afraid the plan, as it stands today, won’t deliver that.”
Last week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would be willing to defy orders from the European Court of Human Rights if necessary to implement his Rwanda plan.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “As the Government of Rwanda have made repeatedly clear, they stand ready to host thousands of migrants under the partnership.
“The scheme is uncapped and provisions are in place to provide accommodation as required. We remain focused on getting flights off the ground as soon as possible.”
The Rwandan government has disputed the amount of properties that have been sold privately and insisted the scheme is one of several estates for migrants.
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I forced myself to listen to this. She was absolutely evil in her views. She also went on to attack regime’s that fund hate in the UK forgetting to mention the far right think tanks that operate within her party and a lot of that money comes from the US and she said the deaths in Gaza are not a reason to stop arming Netanyahu.
And ARTD came out to bat for her.
You heard what I heard and your points entirely and correctly expose her for what she is. Well done.
Well, what is the price of a ‘dream’? If she wanted to be sure this migrant accommodation remained available, she should have bought them up herself or, as with the rest of this preposterous debacle, wasted yet more of our money securing them. No matter though. They could always sleep in tents on the streets of Kigali. Oh but wait! She doesn’t like that sort of thing either.
I’ve found out since my first response that these houses were planned and built for open sale and were not designated for migrants at all.
Just heard it on LBC as well. Conning us all the way.
Yes and how this BS was flushed out by a dogged journalist.
As Windsor Davies once said.
Oh Dear, How Sad, Never Mind.
I think the trouble is that people have not realised that the whole Rwanda scheme was not really about punishing refugees for being refugees in the UK but about allowing ministers to enjoy exective jet flights to foreign parts (at huge public expense).
Yes I do know, I was only using a famous line that Windor Davies once said in the comedy show It ain’t half hot mum.
What is so barking mad about what the Torys are saying is, that the UK Gov insist that Rwanda is a safe place, a modern democracy with everything migrants could need to rebuild their lives, but at the same time tell us, the idea of going there will put migrants off attempting to cross the channel. The two dont add up. If it is that safe we are only encouraging the boat people.
Three decades after the genocide, the war zone at the border of Rwanda and DR Congo rages on but how lucky are we to have a British Tory government, those custodians of truth and moral virtue, to guide us with their superior wisdom in assuring us it is ‘safe’. I can sleep well tonight knowing this.