Kenya: NGO Accuses Special Programmes Ministry of Bias

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

John Nalianya

28 June 2011

An NGO yesterday claimed the Ministry of Gender’s IDP resettlement plans are biased and focus on only one region. Western Human Rights Network director Eliud Kakoi said people being resettled in the Rift Valley did not own land previously yet the true IDPs remain landless in camps.

He called on the government to formulate a national resettlement policy for the IDPs and prepare a vetting process to weed out fake IDPs benefiting while while real beneficiaries have been forgotten.

He said farmers displaced from Mt Elgon as a result of the activities of the Sabaot Land Defence Force have been neglected yet they cannot get back to their land because of the unresolved dispute at Chepyuk Settlement Scheme. “The more than 2,500 families of IDPs in Western province displaced during the 1992 and 1997 tribal clashes and the 2007 post-election violence have been neglected as the government concentrates only to those affected in the Rift Valley,” Kakoi said.

He accused chiefs and district officers of creating fake IDPs to benefit from the resettlement, leaving the genuine ones to suffer in camps.

“We are aware of some officers who took bribes while drawing up the lists and we call upon the anti-corruption body to investigate the whole process,” he said.

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