Act on minister inciting communities against IDPs, Ethuro tells government

Wednesday, 25 May 2011 00:14 BY BRIAN OTIENO

CONSULTING: Igembe North MP Ntoitha M’Mithiaru and Mandera East’s Mohamed Hussein Ali confer with Special Programmes PS Andrew Mondoh.

Powerful Cabinet ministers are behind the rejection of IDPs in various parts of the country, House committee on IDPs chairman Ekwe Ethuro has said. The Turkana Central MP asked President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila to reign in on the “rogue ministers”. “Some of the politicians who resist the resettlement of IDPs in lands bought by the government are powerful ministers,” said Ethuro.
The committee said the government should talk to the host community before resettling IDPs in their land.
Yesterday, the Cohesion Commission echoed the committee’s views saying the government should talk to the people on the ground so they understand who is being resettled in heir midst.
The NCIC vice chair Mary Onyango said most communities have no problem accepting the IDPs but that the manner in which the government resettles them is the main issue.
Meanwhile, the government has said there are no plans to resettle IDPs at the Coast. Speculation had been rife at that the government plans to settle some of the IDPs in Taveta and Lamu.
Coast MPs have vehemently opposed the plans saying Coast has a historical problem of land and bringing in IDPs without settling squatters first will create more problems.
But Special Programmes PS Andrew Mondoh dismissed the rumours as mere speculation created by the legislators to endear themselves to the electorate. “The government has not bought any land at the Coast to resettle IDPs. I don’t know where this issue has come from,” said Mondoh. The PS  said he wrote to Coast PC to confirm that the government has not bought any land at the Coast for the IDPs.