When the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged refugees in Nakivale camp, Uganda, to report corruption, the message seemed clear: all services are free, whistleblowers will be protected, and confidential reporting channels extend all the way to Geneva. Posters were put up in distribution centres, clinics and schools. Email addresses and emergency telephone numbers were widely publicised.

Two Congolese refugees, Lulema Akonkwa and Maregheko Migabo Bienvenu, took these instructions seriously.

As community organisers and human rights activists, they began collecting testimonies from refugees who reported having to pay for services that were officially free, including food aid, protection and, in some cases, the most coveted opportunity of all: resettlement in Europe or North America. Their testimonies implicated UNHCR staff, officials from the Ugandan Prime Minister’s Office (OPM), police officers and NGO partners.

According to them, what happened next reflected a pattern already seen in previous international investigations: whistleblowers were encouraged to speak out, then left without protection.

‘Report corruption’: paying the price

“Report any act of corruption,” they were told. Then, according to them, they were punished for following this instruction.

Akonkwa clearly remembers the UNHCR’s instructions:

“The UNHCR invited us and told us that if we ever caught one of its officials asking for bribes …we should report it; they brought posters…with their contact details…all the addresses, e-mails, telephone numbers.”

At the time, Akonkwa was running an association called Men of Peace, which contacted the UNHCR to ask for help. Instead, he says, a protection officer who introduced himself as Henry asked them for money.:

“He told us that if we wanted to receive assistance, each of us had to bring 1 million shillings. We are poor refugees, we couldn’t afford it.” The group refused and submitted a written report.

Bienvenu, who lived in a neighbouring village and worked independently as a human rights observer, was simultaneously collecting his own testimonies.

“The UNHCR told us that all services were free… that we should report cases of corruption. Unfortunately, providing this information made me feel unsafe.”

Together, they interviewed dozens of refugees. Some said they had paid bribes, others said they had spent nights at the homes of staff members who had become their ‘friends’. Similar allegations have been documented in other refugee camps in East Africa.

UNHCR response: investigations and safeguards

Responding to allegations raised in previous reports, UNHCR spokesperson Frank Walu said,

“The protection and well-being of refugees is UNHCR’s top priority,” he added. “Thorough investigations have been conducted by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Although the allegations could not be corroborated by the OIG, measures were taken by the office in Uganda to protect several refugees.”

UNHCR affirms that confidentiality protocols were respected and that protection options, including counselling and resettlement services, were offered to witnesses.

The first trip to Kampala

In 2016, Akonkwa, Bienvenu and other whistleblowers travelled to Kampala to present their findings directly to UNHCR headquarters. They claim that they were not well received as whistleblowers.

“We spent a week there… sleeping outside,” .

– LULEMA Akonkwa

They were then taken to Kintale police station and questioned by UNHCR staff members, whom Akonkwa identifies as Caro, Mathieu and Hope. He claims they were assured that the information would be treated confidentially. A similar assurance was repeated by an official named Christine at the Mbarara office. According to them, this confidentiality was not respected.

When a Geneva-based investigator, Coralie Colson, travelled to Nakivale to interview them, the whole camp already knew she was coming.

“You said this information was confidential,” Akonkwa reminded her, “but everyone knows you’re here.”

UNHCR insists that confidentiality is central to its investigations and has urged journalists not to expose whistleblowers to further danger by identifying them.

Reprisals and rising fear

According to the whistleblowers, reprisals intensified after the visit to Geneva.

“The community started telling us that if people could no longer reach the West, it was because we had provided the information,” recalls Bienvenu.

They were accused of being responsible for blocking resettlement cases, staff dismissals and investigations. A third whistleblower, one of the first to provide evidence, subsequently died in suspicious circumstances.

Unlike previous cases where UNHCR had stated that it could not confirm a reported death due to a lack of information to identify the person, this investigation obtained a medical certificate of cause of death issued by the Ugandan Ministry of Health.

The certificate identifies the deceased as a Congolese refugee residing in Nakivale camp. It states that the direct cause of death was a broken neck resulting from blunt force trauma. The document specifies that the death occurred in January 2019 and was certified by a licensed physician. Issued by the Ugandan Ministry of Health and reviewed as part of this investigation, the certificate directly contradicts previous descriptions of the death as a simple accident.

This official report directly contradicts previous descriptions of the incident as a simple accident.

Following this death, other whistleblowers who had initially cooperated with investigators refused to testify again. According to Mr Bienvenu, they believe that doing so would put them in the same situation. Several of them told this inquiry that the way UNHCR had handled previous complaints, including breaches of confidentiality, arrests and forced returns to the camp, had convinced them that it would be dangerous to speak out again.

Their fear, he said, was based not only on what had happened to their colleague, but also on the way the UNHCR had treated those who had spoken out previously.

2017: Arrests and loss of trust

ulema Akonkwa, a Congolese refugee in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, recounts his experience reporting alleged corruption and the consequences he says followed.

In 2017, the group returned to Kampala to follow up on their complaints.

“The UNHCR called the Kira police station… We were detained for four days,” says Akonkwa.

‘I went four days without eating.’

UNHCR says that when it receives information about the arrest of refugees, it follows up with the authorities and advocates for due process.

“This led to the release of one person concerned within the group,” Frank Walusimbi said.

A second investigation and a new leak

Maregheko Migabo Bienvenu, a Congolese refugee and human rights activist in Nakivale, describes his efforts to report alleged aid misconduct and the risks he says resulted.

Later, Bienvenu was contacted by Jonathan Wade, Inspector General of the UNHCR, who invited him to Entebbe.

“We showed him in black and white… that UNHCR agents, OPM agents and NGO staff members were involved in corruption.”

Bienvenu also presented evidence of the alleged embezzlement of 84 million Ugandan shillings intended for an aquaculture project.

“He told us that all this information had to remain confidential… that UNHCR would do everything possible to help us.”

Once again, according to Bienvenu, the information was leaked before he returned to the camp.

UNHCR says it has strengthened witness protection mechanisms and continues to encourage confidential reporting, including through the IGO’s online complaint system.

Violence, exclusion and isolation

Both whistleblowers describe sustained reprisals.

“My wife was raped while she was pregnant,” says Bienvenu.

“I myself… I was even raped. We were poisoned. I almost died.”

Akonkwa recounts a similar trauma:

“Some of us saw our homes burned down… Some of us died in accidents… When you go to hospital, you die there.“

UNHCR says that access to services has been maintained and that protection options have been offered, including resettlement. It also points out that global budget cuts and a reduction in resettlement places are structural constraints.

A pattern of institutional failure

In several countries and investigations, a consistent pattern emerges:

• 1. Refugees are encouraged to report misconduct.
• 2. Confidentiality is promised, then violated.
• 3. Whistleblowers face reprisals.
• 4. Protection mechanisms are heavily dependent on host state authorities.
• 5. Community anger is redirected towards those who speak out.

In Nakivale, the consequences have been frightening.

Today, Akonkwa and Bienvenu live in isolation.

“We have been abandoned by UNHCR, which is supposed to protect us,” says Bienvenu.

Their appeal remains unchanged:

“Our lives are in danger… the lives of my wife, my children and my friends who filed complaints.”

– Bienvenu

UNHCR says it remains committed to protecting the rights and dignity of refugees.

But for those who responded to the call to denounce corruption, the price has been fear, silence and, in at least one documented case, death.

The UNHCR asked refugees to speak out.

They did.

This is what happened next.

The question that remains is not whether corruption exists, but whether those who expose it can survive the process?