Premium
Land feuds prevent hundreds of IDPs from settling down
Internally Displaced Persons at Pipeline IDP camp on the outskirts of Nakuru town re-erect a tent. PHOTO | JOSEPH KIHERI | FILE
What you need to know:
- The government’s plan to resettle 823 internally displaced families from New Canaan IDP camp at Pipeline Nakuru on newly acquired farms in Njoro and Subukia has failed
Camps for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Nakuru that housed thousands of families are yet to be closed after wrangles emerged over the farms recently acquired for them by the government.
Although a large number of IDPs moved to the new farms during the resettling schemes, some who claim to be un-profiled are still in the camps while integrated IDPs are bemoaning their exclusion from the programme that saw many resettled and others paid Sh400,000 to rebuild their lives.
The government’s plan to resettle 823 internally displaced families from New Canaan IDP camp at Pipeline Nakuru on newly acquired farms in Njoro and Subukia has failed after court cases were filed blocking the subdivision of the two farms.
New Canaan IDP chairman Paul Thiong’o said the cases had reversed major gains made by the government to “wipe out” the post-election violence camps owing to feuds among the land seller families over how to share the millions of shillings they received from the government.
Mr Thiong’o called for negotiations between government officials and the farms’ owners to try and end the stalemate.
The delay by government land agencies to subdivide the land and issue title deeds to individual beneficiaries has exacerbated the situation that would enable the families rebuild their lives by engaging in income-generating activities.
National IDP Leaders Forum national treasurer Beatrice Nyokabi and the New Canaan camp chairman told Sunday Nation there was a need for the government to engage the families and create a seamless working environment between government departments to speed up the process of resettlement.
“We commend the government for purchasing the farms for us and resettling us, but some of our members are still languishing in abject poverty as legal battles have emerged holding back the process after the courts imposed injunctions to await determination of the cases,” Mr Thiong’o said.
Ms Nyokabi said there was a need for the government to provide food to 1,301 integrated families living in Gilgil and another 530 families living in transitional camps, saying food rations had been reduced by half as the families await relocation to their new farms.
