Last week, 17 asylum seekers at the Brook House Detention Centre in Sussex, UK, staged a hunger strike after learning that they were to get deported to Rwanda.
It follows plans that the UK government announced in April to send some of their asylum seekers to Rwanda starting on 14th June, especially those crossing from France across the English channel.
According to Olive Najjuma, a co-presenter of The Fatboy Show, the move is to reduce the number of immigrants into the country.
“These countries have been allowing in people over the years. I think the taxpayer is now calling on the government to limit the number of immigrants they are receiving, so the UK government is doing this to curb this illegal immigration into the kingdom,” she reasoned.
Regardless, she continued, “But I understand why asylum seekers are protesting against deportation to Africa because if I left Uganda for the UK, and then told that I will be to Nigeria, I would be like; ‘ok, I knew Nigeria was there, why are you taking me there?'”
However, she and James Onen aka Fatboy, believed that the refugees might be seeking economic asylum instead of actual asylum.
He further wondered how they would react if deportation was to Uganda. More so, Fatboy and Olive were convinced that the strike wouldn't impact any change from the UK government.
Nevertheless, the deportation has been criticized by opposition parties such as the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrat party in the UK, humanitarian charities, and religious organizations such as Amnesty International and Refugee Action.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, and Sarah every weekday from 6 am to 10 am on RX Radio.