IDPs appeal to Uhuru: ‘Resettle us before your term ends’
President Uhuru Kenyatta.
As President Uhuru Kenyatta winds up his final term in office, victims of the 2007/08 post-election violence hope that he will fulfill his 2013 promise to resettle them.
The Nakuru County Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) network is now appealing to the President to finalise the resettlement and compensation process for some of their members who were left out.
Led by county coordinator Lucy Njeri, the group explained that the compensation process initiated by the Jubilee government is yet to be completed as a majority of members are yet to be resettled.
Ms Njeri said the National Consultative Coordination Committee on Internally Displaced Persons (NCCCIDP), which oversaw the resettlement, was disbanded without completing its work.
She said only 83,000 of the 200,000 members received Sh50,000.
She said that the names of at least 27,000 members who did not receive the payment had errors and were sent back for correction. But the money was never paid into their accounts.
On the other hand, those who resettled on land bought by the government have not been able to utilise it as the subdivision of the land was stymied by court cases.
Because of the drawn-out court cases, some elderly members had died before being settled.
“We request our President to establish the status of the farms and help members settle on them before he leaves office in 2022. Our members have been suffering for a very long time waiting for this compensation,” Ms Njeri said.
She also lamented that the IDP Act 2012, formulated to deal with the affairs of the IDPs, is not being implemented because the government disbanded the consultative committee.
The group also wants to be involved in peace efforts spearheaded by the government. Rev Francis Gathambu, an IDP from Molo sub-county, said the victims of the clashes are better placed to promote peace in Kenya as they understand better the negative effects of violence.
He called on the President to initiate investigations into the compensation money that he believes was stolen.
