KAMPALA, Uganda — The United Nations refugee agency has misspent millions of dollars on Africa’s largest refugee crisis, including paying $320,000 for what became a parking lot at the Ugandan prime minister’s office, an internal inquiry says. The new report by the U.N.’s internal watchdog says about $11 million is now being spent on a recount of the South Sudanese who poured into Uganda, to weed out potentially hundreds of thousands of “ghost refugees.”
Over-counting refugees to bring in more funding carries the risk of officials quietly pocketing the difference.
More than a million South Sudanese fled to neighboring Uganda after fresh fighting broke out in July 2016, causing a scramble by the U.N. and other humanitarian agencies to help them find food and shelter.
A Section on 11/30/2018