Ministry waits on Mau resettlement cash

Lands minister James Orengo. His Ministry is still waiting for Treasury to release Sh3.4 billion required for resettlement of families evicted from the Mau and other forests March 16, 2011. FILE 

By PETER LEFTIE
Posted Wednesday, March 16 2011 at 16:28

Thousands of families flushed out of the Mau Complex and other forests may continue living in terrible conditions for much longer unless Treasury releases Sh3.4 billion required for their resettlement.

Documents seen by Nation reveal that Treasury is yet to respond to a letter written by the Ministry of Lands last November asking for the funds to resettle 6116 families evicted from the Mau, Chepyuk and Embobut forests.

The letter signed by Lands Permanent Secretary Dorothy Angote to her Treasury counterpart Joseph Kinyua gives a breakdown of amounts required to purchase land in various parts of the country with a view to resettling the three groups of squatters.

According to the available figures, each family will be entitled to 2.5 acres with families evicted from the Mau complex requiring Sh1.5 billion for resettlement, those from Embobut Sh1.6 billion while those for Chepyuk Sh196 million.

“We are still waiting for a response, what I have received are verbal indication that my ministry may receive Sh1 billion in the supplementary budget for the resettlement exercise,” Lands minister James Orengo said Wednesday.

In the letter dated November 25 last year, the PS explains that the Ministry of Lands requires the money to purchase, value, plan, survey and register the land to resettle the displaced families.

The revelations come in the wake of a tug war between the ministry and Treasury over the plight of the Mau evictees who are still living in bad conditions years after they were flushed out of the forest.

Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta was Tuesday quoted saying that Treasury had set aside Sh1 billion in the revised budget to compensate Mau victims.

But Mr Orengo maintained that no funds had been released for the resettlement despite several letters his ministry had written to President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and head of civil service Francis Muthaura asking for funds to resettle the victims.

Ms Angote’s letter to Treasury is in response to a directive from Public Service head Francis Muthaura confirming that the Special Programmes Ministry had finished profiling families evicted from the three forests. Mr Muthaura goes ahead to give the Lands Ministry the go-ahead to write to Treasury requesting for the funds.

“The purpose of this letter is to ask you to urgently prepare and forward to the Ministry of Finance the budget necessary for purchase of land for their resettlement to enable immediate undertaking of the exercise,” Mr Muthaura notes in the letter dated November 15 last year.

Mr Muthaura’s intervention followed separate letters Mr Orengo had written to President Kibaki and Mr Odinga in October last year asking them to approve the release of funds for the resettlement of the families.

“The purpose of this letter therefore is to kindly request that you approve this proposal and authorize Treasury to avail adequate financial resources to facilitate the resettlement exercise,” Mr Orengo notes in his letter to the president.

Mr Orengo confirmed that Treasury had earlier released Sh2.9 billion for the resettlement of post election violence victims but added that the monies were being administered by the Settlement Fund Trustees chaired by Mr Kenyatta.

The money was exclusively for the resettlement of the victims of post election violence.