Genuine integrated IDPs to be compensated after verification

The National IDPs Coordination Committee will issue a list of genuine integrated internally displaced persons who are also victims of 2007/2008 post-election violence before they can be compensated.

The victims will know their fate Wednesday after a two-day meeting of the coordination committee in Nakuru.

The committee has been verifying people identified as IDPs in order to determine the genuine beneficiaries.

The two-day exercise which kicked off on Tuesday morning seeks to ensure that those listed as IDPs are genuine before the compensation starts.

The secretariat, under the chairmanship of Sheikh Adan Wachu, began sittings after protests by a group of IDPs who claimed the government left them out while compensating their colleagues who have been living in the camps.

SCRUTINISE NAMES

According to Mr Wachu, once the verification is completed, an inter-agency team comprising of the National Intelligence Service, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics will further scrutinise the names to prove their authenticity before payments can be processed.

“We are meeting all the co-ordinators and representatives of the intergraded IDPs where we shall be comparing the names listed to ensure that all the beneficiaries are genuine,” he said.

Mr Wachu warned that those found masquerading as IDPs will be arrested and prosecuted. The same fate will befall those found to have registered twice.

He noted that with the help of the secretariat’s IT experts, they are able to verify those who have registered more than once.

FAKE IDPS

“Once the exercise is done we shall bring together all the names and hand them to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. If we find out that one has benefited before or is masquerading as [an] IDP we shall take a legal action against them,” he added.

He noted that the government has so far purchased more than 170 parcels of land for resettlement of the remaining IDPs, adding that the land is yet to be allocated to individuals.

“The government has spent more than 6 billion in the purchase of the parcels of land although the parcels of land are yet to be sub-divided due to various factors. We are in the process of verification before issuance of tittle deeds to genuine people,” he said.

Nakuru County Commissioner Joshua Nkanatha warned those planning to masquerade as IDPs during the process that action will be taken against them.

“We are almost coming to the end of the process which has taken a long period and if one is found guilty, they will be charged for defrauding the government,” said Mr Nkanatha.