Resettlement of poll chaos victims costs State and donors Sh900m

• 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.

These districts, alongside the Rift Valley provincial commissioner received Sh500,000 each for reconciliation efforts.

Mr Mohammed also said that counsellors were being sent to help the traumatised violence victims come to terms with their experiences and begin life afresh.

The ministry’s website indicates that even though the Ministry of Agriculture ploughed more than 10,000 acres of farmland for returning internal refugees in the Rift Valley and issued seeds and top dressing fertiliser worth Sh61 million and Sh29 million respectively, more land was still fallow.

Molo and Kipkelion districts, where 99 per cent of internal refugees have returned, received more attention. The water wells in areas where the refugees have returned need to be tested and the Ministry of Water and Irrigation is working on the exercise.

More mobile toilets need to be set up in areas where the refugees are in transit camps. Their security, too, poses a major challenge.

In Eldoret North District, 55 people who were resettled from the Eldoret ASK showground were not welcomed by the host community and had to be returned to the camp.

Relief food

During the months of May and June, the Government donated food to the UN World Food Programme, with the beneficiaries being internal refugees, the school feeding programme and people affected by drought and famine under the emergency operation (Emop).

Some 2.5 million people are being assisted under the three programmes.

The Government has also been releasing substantial quantities of relief food to the needy through the Kenya Red Cross Society which has been the lead agency distributing Government food to internal refugees. 

In July 2008, the Government released the food to the society for distribution to people affected by drought in Baringo Central, Baringo North and East Pokot districts.

The PS said the Government would continue to assess the food security situation in the country and respond appropriately.

Mr Mohammed emphasised the Government’s commitment to see that the returning refugees settled in their homes as quickly as possible.