11 December 2001
Church leaders yesterday threw their weight behind Kibera slum landlords in the violent rents dispute which has left more than 10 people dead.
The leaders, who held a news conference at Ufungamano House, preached reconciliation, but accused the Government of selective application of the economic liberalisation exercise.
The church leaders, under the umbrella of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), said the issue of rents in the slums should be addressed across the board without narrowing it down to Kibera.
"We have chosen to move away from the command economy to where market forces determine the prices. It is inconsistent to apply policies selectively. They should address the issue of rents in slums across the board ," said NCCK General Secretary, the Reverend Mutava Musyimi.
He said an amicable solution, devoid of political or any other form of manipulation, should be found.
He said the Government should facilitate this process of reconciliation which should be exhaustive and inclusive to cater for all parties.
"We urge the Government and politicians to urgently facilitate the process of reconciliation which is exhaustive and inclusive to enable warring parties arrive at an amicable solution to the problem," said Musyimi
He was accompanied by Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a' Nzeki, Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) Moderator Jesse Kamau and the head of the Methodist Church, Bishop Zablon Nthamburi, among others.
The leaders dismissed the Government's stand that the land the structures stand on is its land which necessitates the drop in rents.
They said all land in Kenya is Government land, with Ndingi pointing out that all Kenyans hold the land in trustee of the Government - even freehold leases.
Mutava said the skirmishes in Kibera were sparked by political statements. He, however, believes that the underlying issues behind the skirmishes is the land distribution and ownership.
The church leaders, however, commended the Government for moving in to stop the skirmishes. They also called for equal distribution of land and water resources to stop the Tana River clashes.
They told the Government to take care of political inciters and curb the entry of sophisticated firearms and their usage by warring factions.
Elsewhere, the Muslim Consultative Council (MCC) accused Raila of involving himself in the Kibera clashes with a view to disenfranchising the Muslim community. The group said Raila was scheming to dispossess the community of its land in the area.
MCC chairman, Mr Mohammed Farouk Adam, claimed that Raila had a direct hand in the skirmishes.
He said the clashes were pre-planned to ensure that Muslims do not present their views to the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC). "This is dangerous and deliberately calculated to render them without an abode," he charged.
Raila, in whose constituency Kibera falls, recently denied any involvement in the clashes.
Meanwhile, the situation in Kibera is slowly returning to normal, Raila said yesterday.
He reiterated that the skirmishes that rocked the informal settlement were sparked by outsiders, who he said "invented ethnicity."
He said that there were only two "tribes" living in Kibera - the structure owners and the occupants. Raila said the two "tribes" had since time immemorial lived together, cutting across the ethnic divide, a factor that outsiders did not understand.
Raila, who was speaking to journalists at his Nyayo House office, said that by advocating for the lowering of rents, he was not inciting, but was rather, fighting for the rights and interests of his constituents.
He said he had consistently led the quest for the lowering of the rents for three years following requests from the tenants who had approached him.
"Nevertheless, having failed, that is when I pleaded with the President," for assistance.
The Energy Minister said Kibera was covered under Cap 2 (80) of the land laws, which gives the Minister for Lands and Settlement powers to institute regulations of settlement in the area. Such powers, Raila said, required that a temporary occupation licence be renewed every year.
He said the Act also empowered the minister to give a 3-month quite notice to the landlords and tenants.
However, he continued, considering that they (tenants and landlords) had nowhere to appeal, he pleaded for a negotiated settlement.
"They don't fall under the Rent Tribunal and can't go there. Neither can they go to the court. We therefore opted for negotiation," he explained.
And the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) said that the conflict between landlords and tenants in slum areas can only be addressed by the promulgation of proper land use policy. KHRC executive director, Dr Willy Mutunga said the problem cannot be solved haphazardly through political pronouncements aimed at pushing out those considered opposition voters "as has happened in Kibera". He said the clashes witnessed in Kibera last week that displaced many from their living places was motivated by political reasons.
Mutunga said the Kibera skirmishes were part of a political plot to rid Langata constituency of opposition votes so that the Kanu and NDP favoured candidate sails through in the 2002 General Election.
Slum landlords, he said, are terrible everywhere, "but the method used in Kibera will cause more chaos instead of addressing the problem".
Mutunga, who was speaking during the International Human Rights Day, asked the youth to rise up against crimes committed with impunity.
Mutunga, said what happened in Kibera and is happening in Tana River were pointers to violence that could rock the election exercise come next year.
In a related development, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) yesterday denied that it was outrightly biased in its emergency distribution of relief in Kibera.
KRCS secretary-general, Mr Abbas Gullet, said that contrary to the reports, the society was able to distribute food and non-food items to the 1,035 displaced families staying at four different sites.
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