Photo/FILE About 1,600 of the 4,800 IDP households will be settled on the 4,500 hectare land that the government intends to buy from the owners, which Mr Orengo said will take about three months.
By PATRICK NZIOKA pnzioka@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, January 14 2012 at 22:30
Posted Saturday, January 14 2012 at 22:30
The ruling by the High Court that elections could take place next year spelt good news for internally displaced persons after the government promised on Saturday it will have finalised the resettlement exercise by then.
Special Programmes minister Esther Murugi and her Lands colleague James Orengo promised that, barring the dissolution of the coalition, the government has enough time to resettle all IDPs still in camps.
Inspection tour
The two ministers at the centre of the resettlement programme were speaking while on an inspection tour of Suguroi Farm in Laikipia East district, which the government intends to buy to resettle some IDPs.
The two denied that they were any differences between them and promised to fast track the exercise by identifying and buying land together to avoid further delays.
About 1,600 of the 4,800 households will be settled on the 4,500 hectare land that the government intends to buy from the owners, which Mr Orengo said will take about three months.
Another 400 households will be resettled next week at a location the two ministers did not disclose, leaving the government with 2,800 families to purchase land for.
Those to be resettled at the Suguroi farm will be selected from various camps across the country to facilitate integration and cohesion between people from different communities.
After touring the land, the two ministers said they were satisfied it was suitable for the resettlement of IDPs as it was arable and the host community had no objections.
The land was subjected to public debate after Naivasha MP John Mututho declared it a cold desert and urged IDPs not to agree to be resettled there. He suggested an alternative location that the government has since rejected.
Mr Orengo promised his ministry had enough resources to purchase land to facilitate the resettlement.
Out of the Sh2.9 billion allocated by Treasury for the exercise, Sh1.4 billion is still available.
He explained that the resettlement exercise had slowed down because suitable land to resettle those displaced is not easy to find.
“Suitable land for the resettlement exercise is not as available as people think since not all vacant land is available.
“Further, the government will not buy land that is not arable and therefore unsuitable for human habitation,” Mr Orengo said.
Ms Murugi said that now that the two ministers had firsthand information on the suitability of the land, it was now upon the ministry of Lands to move quickly as regards the paperwork to buy the land.
This means government officers will need to travel to the area to survey the farm and map out how the resettlement will be done.
Mr Orengo promised that he will tour all the other controversial parcels, especially in the Rift Valley, to ascertain their availability and suitability to resettle the remaining IDPs.
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