Evictees’ cash yet to be released

The resettlement of thousands of families evicted from government forests cannot begin for lack of funds.

The Treasury is yet to release the Sh3.5 billion the Lands ministry requested for resettling the forest evictees, according to an April 5 letter.

In the letter, Lands Permanent Secretary Dorothy Angote says that the Treasury is yet to respond to a letter asking for the funds to resettle 6,116 families evicted from Mau, Chepyuk and Embobut forests.

The letter is addressed to Treasury PS Joseph Kinyua and the PS in the office of the Prime Minister, Dr Mohammed Isahakia, and copied to Lands minister James Orengo.

The ministry of Finance has provided Sh2.9 billion in the last and current financial years to purchase land for the victims of the post-election violence, the letter says.

“With regard to the settlement of Mau and Embobut forest evictees, the minister for Lands on October 7, 2010, made a passionate plea to …the President and …the Prime Minister for funds to resettle the evictees, among other persons requiring resettlement,” the PS says in the letter.

On November 25, 2010, Ms Angote made a request for Sh3.5 billion for the resettlement of forest squatters.

Her letter to the Treasury was in response to a directive from Public Service boss Francis Muthaura confirming that the Special Programmes ministry had finished profiling families evicted from the three forests.

However, the PS reported lack of response on her budget submissions five months later.

The Treasury, ministry of Special Programmes and ministry of Lands have been blaming each other over the plight of Mau evictees who have lived in camps for years.

Before he left for The Hague last week, Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta was quoted saying that Treasury had set aside Sh1 billion in the supplementary budget to compensate the Mau victims.

Mr Kinyua wrote to the Lands ministry on March 31, saying that Sh1 billion would be made available to resettle the forest evictees.

At the Lands ministry, however, the PS maintained that no funds had been released for the resettlement despite several letters to President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Mr Muthaura.

In the her letter, Ms Angote said that without the funds meant for the evictees, her ministry would continue to resettle only those people displaced by the post-election violence.

A breakdown in the letters shows that the Lands ministry had made disbursements plus commitments of Sh3 billion.

“This means that the Sh2.9 billion released to the ministry is not enough.”