Internally Displaced People, rendered homeless after the 2007/2008 post-election violence have asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to consider them for issuance of title deeds, before he exits office.
Led by the National Internally Displaced People Network chairman, Patrick Githinji, they have said that the large tracts of land that the government purchased in Uasin Gishu, Laikipia, Nyandarua and Nakuru counties for IDPS remain idle and were now being encroached by herders, while others were being taken up by land grabbers.
“We know where the land set aside for us IDPs is situated and what we are asking is for the government to allow us to occupy those parcels of land. The president also announced that he will be issuing more than 1,000 title deeds before he exits office, we are pleading with him to factor in IDPs in that number. We don’t want money, we want parcels of land so that we can start depending on ourselves,” said Githinji.
The IDPs are also demanding an explanation of the Sh17.5 billion that was released by the National Treasury when President Uhuru Kenyatta was the Finance Minister.
Githinji said that out of 4 million IDPs in the country, the government had only compensated a few and neglected a majority of them.
He said that the IDPs were not able to access their compensation as government officials charged with the responsibility of disbursing the money claim that it was sent back to the Treasury.
“About 8000 IDPs have received Sh 400,000 as compensation, while others received Sh 50,000. There is a lot of IDP money that was to be deposited into IDP bank accounts, but when they try to access it, they are told it was sent back to the Treasury. The government vetted us before releasing the cash so what happened to the money?” posed Githinji.
“Over 191,000 integrated IDP who fled from conflict in other counties have not received any form of compensation from the government, yet they were the most affected by the post-election violence. We want the government to intervene so that we can get compensated,” he said.
The IDPs who were drawn from Laikipia, Nyandarua, Thika, Nairobi, Nyeri and Kirinyaga had congregated at the Ruring’u stadium in Nyeri County to pray for peaceful elections.
They also urged aspirants to hold peaceful campaigns and concede defeat once election results are announced.
Together with religious leaders from evangelical churches they also asked the youth to avoid being manipulated by politicians to disrupt campaigns as the country approaches the August 9 polls.
“We don’t want to create another IDP situation in the country. As IDPs we have been suffering because there are people who did not accept the outcome of an election. My appeal to Kenyans is to maintain peace because elections come and go.
After elections, your neighbor will remain your neighbor. For the aspirants, if you lose, concede and agree to work together with your opponent so that the country can move forward,” said Gladys Wanjiru, one of the IDPs.
