Taskforce to resettle IDPs set up

The government has set up yet another task force to look into the controversial matter of resettling internally displaced persons in the country.

Special Programmes Permanent Secretary Andrew Mondoh said last evening that the team would work to ensure genuine IDPs are given new homes "within the shortest times possible".

“The team will work round the clock including weekends and public holidays starting from this festive season,” he said in a statement, which did not include members' names.

Mr Mondoh only added they would be "senior officers from various ministries".

In what seemed like a response to recent accusations of government sluggishness in resettling IDPs since 2008, the PS said the new team would just compliment several other ways his Ministry is following to solve the matter.

“Modalities have been worked out where individual IDPs have been encouraged to identify suitable land in areas of their choice. The government will pay the vendor directly and not directly to the individual IDP.”

Also on the list are the more than 7,500 families evicted from the expansive Mau Forest, Cherangani, Aberdares and Mt Elgon regions.

The PS admitted that they have not been able to resettle all the IDPs because the land they have been offered by land sellers has either been found to be unfit for agriculture or that the prices were too high. “There has also been a disparity between the Government valuation and offers from the land owners.  Some land owners have been reluctant to accept Government valued prices for land.”

Some of the sellers had told reporters that the government had not shown any commitment to buy the land despite them proving they owned it.

A significant chunk of the displaced people resulted from the 2007 post-election violence that saw 663,921 people lose their homes. According to the Ministry of Special Programmes, 350,000 sought refuge in 118 camps that were constructed around the country while 313,921 joined their relatives in communities countrywide. Six hundred more families took refuge in Uganda.

In 2009, the government through the Operation Rudi Nyumbani helped an estimated 350,000 people to return to their farms with Sh10,000 pay given to heads of families and Sh25,000 to families who lost their houses.

But then it emerged that some of those lining up to benefit were fake IDPs. Controversy further deepened when the Lands Ministry accused the Treasury of delaying to release the money meant to purchase land.

About Sh 3.3 billion has already been spent on resettlement although most IDPs still complain of neglect.