Orengo to spend 1 400 000 000 on IDPs

Lands Minister James Orengo is Monday expected to give consent for the purchase of 20,000 acres of land already identified by an inter-ministerial committee dealing with the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Orengo says the Ministry of Lands will spend 1.4 billion shillings to acquire land for resettling IDP's in the first phase of the exercise.

He says the money is part of two billion shillings allocated by the government for phase one of the resettlement of victims of the post election violence.

The Minister made the remarks at his rural home in Ugenya after presiding over a fund raising function at Jera Mixed Secondary School in Ukwala Division.

Orengo said the government will buy the land at the prevailing market rates to avoid losing money to speculators who are out to take advantage of the situation.

Meanwhile, about 300 internally displaced families evicted from the Eldoret Show ground last Friday have now moved to Nyandarua District.

The displaced persons, including 100 children, have relocated to Kasuku area in Ol-Kalou Constituency where they are planning to purchase eight acres of land after the government closed down their camp.

The families arrived in the area Sunday evening in a convoy of six buses and four lorries accompanied by security officers.

Led by their Chairman Moses Maina, the victims accused the government of forcefully ejecting them from the Eldoret show ground without proper compensation.

Maina said most of the IDP's had not received the 35,000 shillings compensation from the government.

"We were ejected from the camp even with some of us still waiting for the compensation money. Why would the government discriminate others and yet we had forwarded all our names to the provincial administration?' he posed.

He said that they did not have enough money to purchase the land and were now relying on well wishers to assist them.

Maina expressed concern that they feared being left out in the ongoing resettlement of IDPs in the country.

He said that no government official had visited them to direct on their allocation of the two acre piece of land promised by the government.

However, Ol-Joro-orok D.O Mr. Justin Maina said the government would put enough resources to enable the IDPS re-settle in the area.

He said security would be provided at the camp to ensure they were safe owing to the fact that the area has in the recent past been invaded by marauding hippos from the nearby Lake Ol-Bollosat.

Their relocation puts the number of IDPs camps in Nyandarua to five.

Others include Mawingu, Milangine, Kasuku and Ol Bollosat.