Photo/ FILE Families at the Eldoret ASK Showground in early October, 2009.
By FRANCIS MUREITHI fmureithi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, March 24 2012 at 20:09
Posted Saturday, March 24 2012 at 20:09
When the government recently announced that internally displaced persons were free to identify land on which to be resettled, little did officials know that the move would open a fresh round of conflict in an already widely failed resettlement programme.
After identifying the land, an IDP is only required to report to the local district commissioner who would, in turn, make arrangements for the purchase of the land. In sum, the process of buying land for IDPs has been decentralised.
However, the move has sparked a fresh round of evictions from the Eastern Mau forest where the government has forcibly evicted more than 700 families who allegedly invaded the forest recently following the announcement that the government was ready to purchase land for IDPs.
The fresh evictions from Mau Forest are fertile ground for conflict in the Rift Valley as the country gears up for the General Election.
But analysts have interpreted this as a clear indication that the government has failed to resolve thIDP crisis which has remained unsettled for the last four years since the post-election violence erupted in late 2007.
Hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted from their homes.
The government claims that the new IDPs in Sigotik, Tergat, Teret, Kapkembu and Teret camps were hurriedly and secretly transported to the edge of the Eastern Mau Forest from Koibatek, Bomet, Kericho and Transmara so that they could benefit from the new efforts to purchase land for IDPs.
“These are fake IDPs who have been transported from elsewhere following the announcement by the government that internally displaced persons are free to look for their own land to settle,” said Njoro DC Nuru Mohammed.
Mr Mohammed claimed that some land speculators who have been taking advantage of the situation have been collecting Sh1,000 from squatters to be allowed to put up illegal structures along the Eastern Mau Forest line and another Sh1,000 for registration.
“The whole idea is to hoodwink the government into buying the land where the squatters have settled in the newly introduced decentralised system of resettling IDPs,” said the DC.
“If we allow this to continue, it will spread to other parts of the country.” Mr Mohammed said the government recognises only nine IDP camps in Kuresoi.
But Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto has contradicted the DC’s remarks, accusing the provincial administration of not telling the truth.
“These are genuine IDPs from Mau Forest who have been living there for the last 25 years and must be compensated just like other IDPs elsewhere,” said Mr Ruto.
The spokesman for the evicted families, Mr Samuel Tanui, also denied government claims that they were transported from outside Njoro District.
“While I agree with the DC that we need to conserve our forests, I disagree with him when he says the affected families were transported from outside the forest,” said Mr Tanui.
His sentiments were echoed by Njoro resident Mr Kap Telwa who said deporting the evictees from the area was inhumane.
“The government should stop tampering with the camps as this is tantamount to hurting them twice as it appears it has failed to fulfil its promise of resettling all the IDPs in the country,” he said.
Some of the communities in the province who were also affected by the clashes are now pointing an accusing finger at the government, claiming that only one community is benefiting from the programme.
“During our dialogue meetings in the post-election violence hotspots in Molo, Njoro, Kuresoi and Uasin Gishu, the feeling on the ground was that the shelter programme is skewed and favours one community,” said Mr Samuel Musumba who is in charge of peace activities at the PC’s office.
Mr Musumba, who is also a personal assistant to the PC, said some of the sentiments raised on the ground during an audit of the shelter programme were shocking.
Speaking during a Norwegian Refugee Council stakeholders forum at Merica Hotel in Nakuru town last month, Mr Musumba said:
“During our dialogue meetings, we were shocked when we were told that by favouring one community, the government was entrenching hate feelings, which could turn tragic at a certain stage.”
He said it was not fair to construct iron sheet-roofed houses for one community yet their neighbours who were also badly affected by the post-election violence were still living in grass-thatched houses.
And a resident of Kuresoi said: “We were all affected by the clashes, and simply because some of us did not go into an IDP camp does not mean we were not affected by the violence like our neighbours to whom the government is pumping all the resources.”“The hate feeling in the hotspots is slowly spreading and is now like a time bomb which can erupt anytime,” he warned.
Efforts by the government to have the IDPs to settle on land in Mau Narok and Endebes have backfired as the host communities have rejected them.
Interestingly, some of the IDPs have turned out to be big landlords and are benefiting from the confusion in the ministry of Special Programmes which has seen multiple registration of the IDPs.
A recent audit by the peace builders committee revealed that one of the IDPs in Sachang’wan in Molo is now a landlord owning between 12 and 15 shelters constructed on his farm.
In Njoro, of the 1,465 shelters constructed, 198 are still unoccupied while in Molo 21 shelters are yet to be occupied. Sixty shelters in Kuresoi are unclaimed.
Norwegian Refuge Council head of Molo office Adrian Stuart says his council has constructed at least 19,000 houses since they launched the project in 2011.
A peace-building officer at the ministry of Special Programmes, Mr Martin Ouma, said it was unfortunate that some of the IDPs had benefited more than twice but promised that the anomaly would be corrected.
“We are sorry that some of the IDPs have benefited more than twice and, given another chance, the ministry shall correct the anomaly,” said Mr Ouma.
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