Benard Namunane
22 April 2008
Nairobi — Hope for a quick resettlement of internal refugees could be jolted today when MPs from the Rift Valley meet President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga with a recommendation to delay the move until the root causes of the January violence are established by the proposed Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The more than 40 MPs are expected to table a recommendation that it would be unwise to rush to resettle the refugees now living in camps before dealing with the causes of the mistrust that has developed over between communities in the region.
The 350,000 people were forced out of their homes following violence that broke out as a result of the disputed presidential election results in December.
Rift Valley bore the brunt of the mayhem with most of those displaced coming from the province.
The chaos left about 1,200 people dead.
Our terms
Yesterday, the Rift Valley MPs went into a consultative forum at a city hotel ahead of today's meeting.
"We want to go and listen to what the President and the Prime Minister will tell us then we will give them our terms. We will meet as Kalenjin MPs in the evening today (yesterday) to agree on our agenda," said Bomet MP Franklin Bett.
If the MPs' view on the resettlement holds, it would spell doom for over 200,000 displaced people living in camps in the province and 150,000 others in other parts of the country.
Government sources confirmed the meeting will take place at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre today from 10 am.
Agriculture minister William Ruto broke news of the meeting at the weekend in Eldoret when he said leaders from the region would meet President Kibaki and Mr Odinga to find a lasting solution to violence during elections.
Among the options that today's meeting will explore are resettling the affected families on their farms.
This would mean that the people are taken back to their homes under police escort, but this could stretch the force and may not guarantee their safety after the officers leave.
Alternatively, the Government could buy land for the victims elsewhere.
But finding this could present problems to the victims as land might not be readily available in places of their choice.
Resettlement was one of the issues that were reportedly discussed between the President and the PM at Harambee House yesterday.
Arrested people
Although a few have gone back to their farms after the relative calm, the majority are still living in camps.
Yesterday, Mr Bett urged the Government not to hurriedly resettle the displaced people until the underlying causes of the fighting has been addressed.
"A rushed exercise is not a solution to the frequent bouts of political violence. Resettlement of the displaced people should not only be for political expediency. Let us do it for the coming generation and for peace," he said.
To avoid a superficial solution, the ODM MP posed some questions which, he said, leaders from the region were in agreement should be resolved.
"Why is this problem coming up every time? Why in an election year? There must be a problem that is embedded in the minds of the people of the Rift Valley and this problem must not be superficially done," he said.
MPs Musa Sirma (Nominated) and Julius Kones (Konoin) agreed with Mr Bett that the Government was hurrying in the resettlement.
Dr Kones said that in addition to the commission, they would demand that dozens of people from the region who were arrested during the violence are released and charges against them dropped.
Mr Bett traced the problem to the colonial period and blamed the founding father of the nation, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, for failing to allow 'original owners' to take over the land that was left by the settlers.
"Kenyatta decided to trash the pact with leaders and this continued well into the seventies. People who were in the know - home-guards - expanded their land in central Kenya and in the process created IDPs.
"These are the people who were brought to buy land cheaply in the Rift Valley through groups such as Nyakinyua I, Nyakinyua II and Nyakinyua III to create space for home-guards.
"This is why we have large tracts of empty land in Central Province belonging to home-guards," he said.
"Somebody can say that I bought the land on which I am living. These are later cases, but the original buyers got it for a song.
"This is why we are saying that, all issues must be handled properly, conclusively, comprehensively and fairly," he said.
But Water and Irrigation assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri urged the Government to speedily resettle the refugees as it works on the establishment of the truth team.
He was categorical that the issue was political and it was up to the politicians to find a solution to it.
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Franklin Bett, Zakayo Cheruiyot, and William Ruto can no longer hide behind the claim of stolen elections as the cause of violence. It is now very clear they have and had an interest in the violence. If not why resist resettlement of IDPs?. Were the IDPs resettled so that Franklin Bett can become minister?. The Special Branch (or CID), Nyayo house, and the law regarding the powers of the secret service should be reviewed to give it powers to act decicively. That way Franklin Bett, Zakayo Cheruiyot, William Ruto, Mungiki and any other tribal thugs will be contained. We cannot live in the past. A strong and effective secret servive gives the impression of continous security because the officers are trained armed and are usually diguised. In such cases organised crime with the aim of arm twisting the goverment cannot be achieved easily. Do we want to develop or listen to failures?. Sorry my Kalenjin brothers 98% of you are innocent and do not deserve such fellows. Kikuyus in general should learn to respect, live and share with others as a matter of emergency. temu1922.
Franklin Bett, Zakayo Cheruiyot, and William Ruto can no longer hide behind the claim of stolen elections as the cause of violence. It is now very clear they have and had an interest in the violence. If not why resist resettlement of IDPs?. Were the IDPs resettled so that Franklin Bett can become minister?. The Special Branch (or CID), Nyayo house, and the law regarding the powers of the secret service should be reviewed to give it powers to act decicively. That way Franklin Bett, Zakayo Cheruiyot, William Ruto, Mungiki and any other tribal thugs will be contained. We cannot live in the past. A strong and effective secret servive gives the impression of continous security because the officers are trained armed and are usually diguised. In such cases organised crime with the aim of arm twisting the goverment cannot be achieved easily. Do we want to develop or listen to failures?. Sorry my Kalenjin brothers 98% of you are innocent and do not deserve such fellows. Kikuyus in general should learn to respect, live and share with others as a matter of emergency. temu1922.
It is very intriguing to hear a Kenyan raising objections to the resettling of the displaced people. It is inhuman, selfish and immoral. When one reads or sees the deplorable state the displaced persons are living in, a human being must be touched. You can imagine the trauma that may now disturb some people for the rest of their lives. Why can’t you be touched? If you are so materially inclined, so you are comfortable and you don’t care about anyone else; when you believe that their resettlement might deny you votes in future elections, because you were voted in because of making a solemn promise that these foreigners must go and now they are back and If you believed that you have to be made minister in the Kenya government and now you are not. I have said before, and I am saying it again here that unless you repent, and part of the repentance is an unconditional acceptance that you used the wrong premises of getting votes, you will never have peace. The statement made by one leader, Henry Kosgey recently, "A lot of water has gone under the bridge. We need to tell the truth and see justice done. We shall not forget, but we can forgive". One wonders what he is forgiving, if he is not talking of resettling and apologizing to the victims he and his colleagues caused to be displaced. Who beat them up, who displaced them, who killed people in a church and other places, and what was the reason for this? This appears to be accepting the resettlement of the victims grudgingly. This is not sufficient healing and looks like any time such a person would sponsor and support the same evictions and killings. For proper healing to take place, those who evicted and supported the same must ungrudgingly and unconditionally accept this was wrong and now they are accepting that these people be resettled. There can be no conditions or negotiations to go back to a piece of land or property you had legally owned and were displaced after the results of the elections were announced. If rigging of elections was the reason for killing and evicting people, then you must know that it was not only a primitive method but also wrong and so disgraceful, but one word especially describes it best, 'displeasing to God'and so "sinful" because of directing brutality to the wrong people. That is why there must be repentance for total healing and hence peace. Those grandstanding because they were not made ministers are wasting their time and calling for more of God’s wrath on them, irrespective of the wealth they have acquired. Let them know that the money they have, most of which, obviously illegally gotten, will not give them peace. Check carefully and you will see most are nursing blood pressure, diabetes and others. Money or even political positions will not help. John 4:13-14 says “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” No mater what position or wealth you have, will never on its own give you peace and satisfaction. One late senior officer of the Moi government is said to have made the following remark one time when he was being helped by a young man onto an airline seat to go for treatment abroad, "young man, I wish you have my money, and I have your health". The displaced people must be resettled unconditionally and more repentance done or you will all repeat what this late senior government officer had to say.
when these leaders organized the mayhem they had an agenda. The violence ended before they could accopmlish their mission. These clashes occur during elections is because the 'foreigners' are seen as people who can influence the outcome of local politics and national politics. Politicians incite their followers to desfrancise the foreigners or force them to vote on a certain way. so since there will always be elections these clashes will occur. The government can buy the land of idps sell it to kalenjins then buy land from other areas and settle them there.