IDPs protest over conditions at camp

Internally displaced people camping at Pipeline held a protest in Nakuru but the Provincial Administration dispersed them.

The IDPs took were protesting at the poor living conditions they were exposed to at the tents in the camp following the onset of rains and demanded building materials.

They demonstrated along the Nakuru-Nairobi highway and accused the government of neglecting them since they went to the camp following the post-election violence.

Their chairperson, Ms Beth Wanjiru, said district commissioner Kangethe Thuku had visited them in the camp at the onset of the rains and promised to release the iron sheets to ensure they were not rained on.

“The dispensary at the camp is full of children who are suffering from pneumonia and other diseases. We have nothing to celebrate about the New Year,” she said on Saturday.

“What we are demanding is the iron sheets donated to us by the Chinese government so that we can protect ourselves from the rains.”

Ms Wanjiru said there were two old men who had suffered strokes. Two women had also recently given birth and the cold conditions at the camp were not favourable to them, she said.

Bought land

But Mr Thuku urged them to be patient, saying the iron sheets will only be released after the displaced have been bought land by the government. He assured them that the government was in the process of acquiring land for them.