HOMES in Rwanda said to have been earmarked to house asylum seekers deported there by the UK have reportedly been sold.
Last year, then home secretary Suella Braverman toured the Bwiza Riverside Estate in Rwanda’s capital Kigali and praised the homes as “really beautiful”.
She also said she liked the decor so much that she wanted to hire the interior designer for her own house.
But the homes have now been sold and will not house refugees sent to Rwanda under the UK Government’s deeply controversial deportation scheme for asylum seekers, according to openDemocracy.
The investigative journalism outlet said one of its reporters had gone undercover and posed as an international investor to approach the developer’s sales team.
A salesperson told the site: “The houses are for Rwandans and 50% is already sold. So if you say it’s for refugees, I don’t think so.”
OpenDemocracy said that two members of staff at Century Real Estate, which is selling properties in the Bwiza estate, said the homes were not intended for refugees.
READ MORE: UK Government's Rwanda plan blocked by Supreme Court ruling
“They are selling them for people who want to own them. They are not fully furnished so I don’t know how they could be used for asylum seekers,” one real estate agent said.
Estate agents said that more than half of the 257 housing units have since been sold.
And in June, developers ADHI-Rwanda boasted the project would “redefine luxury living” and said it had “already captivated the attention of discerning homebuyers and investors alike”.
During her visit to Kigali, Braverman (above) was also filmed laying bricks at a development in Gahanga, on the outskirts of the city, which she described as a “UK-funded” project that would provide 528 homes for asylum seekers.
“Gahanga building project represents a big step forward in Rwanda increasing its already existing capacity to accommodate refugees and provide humanitarian support to thousands of people around the country,” she said.
OpenDemocracy said it was unclear if the project had progressed further since the former home secretary’s visit.
READ MORE: What is the ECHR and how does it relate to the Rwanda migrants policy?
Since signing a deal with Kigali in 2022, the UK Government has sent £240 million to Rwanda in exchange for taking refugees.
But the scheme has been beset with legal and political problems and no asylum seekers have yet been sent to the country.
Initial attempts to deport asylum seekers were halted by judges and the first iteration of the scheme was struck down by the Supreme Court last year.
A new bill to advance the plans is currently making its way through Parliament but Tory right-wingers believe it will remain vulnerable to legal challenges and think it will not result in asylum seekers being deported.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "We are determined to get flights off the ground to Rwanda, control our borders and stop the boats.
“Through our Migration and Economic Development Partnership, we are providing support for the accommodation of asylum seekers relocated to Rwanda, but decisions on locations are the responsibility of the Rwandan government.”
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