IDPs to be settled by January, says Murugi
What you need to know:
- 5,742 out of 6,978 families had already been resettled on 16,000 acres in Rift Valley and Central provinces while those remaining would be settled on 3,708 acres.
People displaced during the 2007/08 post-election violence will be resettled by the end of the year so that politicians do not seek mileage out of the issue, the minister for Special Programmes said on Friday.
Ms Esther Murugi while giving a score card of Internally Displaced Persons’ settlement at the ministry’s office in Nairobi, said that 1,236 households were yet to be settled, but land had been bought for the exercise.
She said 5,742 out of 6,978 families had already been resettled on 16,000 acres in Rift Valley and Central provinces while those remaining would be settled on 3,708 acres.
“We are settling 800 IDPs in Rose Farm at Mau Narok, 600 in Kisima Farm in Njoro and 300 in Haji farm,” Ms Murugi who was accompanied by Lands Minister James Orengo, said.
Registered in groups
She said the IDPs were registered in 20 self-help groups as of December 31, 2008, and those who came later wanted to take advantage of the programme, in which families were getting two and a half acres.
She named groups like Kihoto, Wanaruona Baraka, Wanaruona Gema, Vumilia ‘B’, Kiungano and Nyeri, who have been demonstrating, as ineligible for the resettlement.
For the 2,593 IDPs in Turkana, the minister said Lodwar and Turkana county councils had donated 1,404 acres and houses constructed at a cost of Sh1 billion.
Mr Orengo said acquisition of land for resettlement had been delayed to comply with legal processes.
