News
Resettlement of poll chaos victims costs State and donors Sh900m
Internal refugees at Kondele Police Station listen to Ministry of Special Programmes permanent secretary Ali Mohammed (left) when he visited the camp before it was closed recently. Photo/DAN OBIERO
In Summary
- 40,000 houses to be built for uprooted families as PS says 19,800 still in camps.
- Government spent Sh482 million in the resettlement programme and gave a further Sh303 million to the refugees as funds to help them restart their lives.
- PS says counsellors will be sent to help the traumatised violence victims come to terms with their experiences and begin life afresh.
The Government and international donors have spent an estimated Sh900 million in the resettlement of internal refugees.
And Sh36,000 will be used to build a shelter for each displaced family returning to their farm.
The funds saw to the successful transportation of more than 280,000 displaced people across the country back to their homes according to permanent secretary in the Ministry of Special Programmes Ali Mohammed.
Mr Mohammed said that 19,800 refugees are still living in the camps, but quickly noted that their relocation was ongoing.
The PS said that the Government spent Sh482 million in the resettlement programme and gave a further Sh303 million, through the Cooperative Bank, to the refugees as funds to help them restart their lives.
He said the process was likely to be completed by the end of the month. More than 5,000 refugees are in Nakuru, about 2,000 in Eldoret and 1,900 in Turkana.
Mr Mohammed disclosed that 40,000 houses would be built for the displaced by March next year, noting that international donors had already committed US$22 million towards the project.Each shelter is expected to cost Sh36,000 (US$550).
He said that 10,000 units would be built by next month, the next 15,000 by December and the remainder by March next year.
The official said the Italian Government had built 200 shelters in Timboroa, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees putting up a further 3,500 units. The Kenya Red Cross Society has built 1,000, whereas the International Organisation for Migration has erected 700 units and plans to build another 5,000.
The registration of internal refugees countrywide began on June 3 and ended on July 3. It ran smoothly and an initial 100,000 profiling forms were issued. An additional 50,000 forms are being printed.
Peace meetings
However, the registration was marred by transport problems attributed to lack of adequate and reliable vehicles. Some profiling staff, especially in the newly created districts, even had to share vehicles with the district commissioners.
The internal refugees registered in each province are: Nairobi 733, Central 392, North Eastern 19 and Eastern 429. Others are Central 6,834, Rift Valley 21,033, Western 3,467 and Nyanza 3,720.
In a bid to ensure that the resettlement is not cosmetic, the PS said that peace and reconciliation meetings would be intensified and that the ministry had released Sh4.5 million towards this end.
The districts earmarked include Trans Nzoia East, Trans Nzoia West, Kwanza, Molo, Marakwet, Kipkelion, Uasin Gishu and Koibatek.
RSS