Muturi Answers Onyango

On behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister I would like to state as follows:-

Dennis Onyango’s statement on the Mau compensation raises certain issues that need to be addressed as follows:-
1. The Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta has only publicly discussed the issue of the Mau on two key occasions:-

(a) At a fundraising to raise money to settle those displaced by the evictions from the Mau, where he attended in his personal capacity. What he said at the fundraising was that there was no need to add more tents when we are trying to remove others. The purport of his statement was that there was no need to have more displaced persons living in tents as we already were trying to deal with the settlement of the current IDPs. The statement is a matter of public record.

(b) When he was responding to a media story that gave the impression that the government intended to pay out large sums of money as compensation to large landholders. He was categorical that no arrangement had been made nor any discussion entered into for any payment by the government. The government has not made any budgetary allocation for the payment of any compensation for landowners of any kind. He made the statement as the public were concerned and he was reassuring them that no arrangement as alleged had been entered into, and that is the position.

2. The Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta has never attacked any policy of the government on Mau at any time

3. The matter of resettlement of Mau evictees has been discussed by government, on humanitarian grounds, but there has been no discussion on compensation on large landholders, there is no contradiction in this regard.

4. The Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta has never at any time tried to play politics with the issue of Mau, and the allegation is not only baseless and unsustainable, but is in itself playing politics with Mau.




5. The ministry of Finance has not entered into consultations nor discussions with large land owners nor has he received any communication from any government department for any valuation or intent to pay large land owners. Further we have not factored any such payments into the current budget

In conclusion the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Finance would wish to inform Kenyans that it is committed to maintaining macro-economic stability and implementation of sound financial management principles and policies. In this regard, the Ministry has and will remain focused on committed government programmes of which compensation of large land owners is not one of them

The Prime Minister is a principal in the coalition government and if Dennis Onyango has any reason to doubt a government statement issued in consultation with other government departments, he should not have responded through the media but should have done so through laid down government procedures.


Njee Muturi
Principal Liason Officer
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Finance
22nd December, 2009