IDPs want land disputes resolved
PHOTO | JIMSON NDUNG'U An IDP outside her tent at Kamuri IDP Camp in Kuresoi North, Nakuru on May 21, 2013. Some of the 2007/08 victims on Monday noted that most of the land bought for them as part of government’s effort to resettle them was in dispute.
What you need to know:
- Sixty squatters on the property formerly owned by one-time police commissioner Bernard Hinga went to court to block the allocation of land to IDPs unless they, too, were considered in the demarcation process.
- Post-election violence victims claim land bought by government is steeped in conflicts
Post-election violence victims have asked the government to first resolve any existing conflicts on land earmarked for their re-settlement.
Some of the 2007/08 victims on Monday noted that most of the land bought for them as part of government’s effort to resettle them was in dispute.
On Monday, some 449 families settled at Kisima Farm in Nakuru County held peaceful demonstrations to protest against the delayed demarcation of the 1,112-acre land owing to a conflict that they have with local squatters.
HINDERED SUBDIVISION
“If the government is to succeed in resettling us, they should intervene by resolving existing conflicts that have hindered the subdivision of this land to our members,” said victims’ chairman Paul Thiong’o.
Sixty squatters on the property formerly owned by one-time police commissioner Bernard Hinga went to court to block the allocation of land to IDPs unless they, too, were considered in the demarcation process.
The outcry comes at a time when the Jubilee government has allocated Sh3.3 billion to pay in cash the remaining 8,000 IDPs and Mau evictees to help them identify means of gainful living as opposed to buying land for the victims, a method the Kibaki regime preferred.
The government anticipates closing down all the IDP camps by the end of this month, but those resettled at Kisima were anxious that they had been neglected for the past one year since their resettlement started at the Pipeline Camp in Nakuru Town.
Former Cabinet minister in the defunct Ministry of Special Programmes Esther Murugi said the government had spent over Sh1.7 billion to buy land for the uprooted people.
“Some 5,742 households out of the 6,978 have been resettled on 16,000 acres of government-purchased land in the Rift Valley and Central provinces and the only IDPs who are benefiting from the allocation were those who formed 20 self-help groups after receiving government assistance of Sh10,000 and Sh25,00,” Ms Murugi said.
According to the National Association of Human Rights Activists, despite closing down IDP camps over the weekend, there were many victims yet to get any help.
