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Kenya: Kibaki-Raila Face Off With Rift Valley MPs
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The Nation (Nairobi)
23 April 2008
Posted to the web 23 April 2008
Bernard Namunane
Nairobi
The Government will go ahead and resettle internal refugees in the Rift Valley despite resistance from area MPs.
President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga were in agreement yesterday on the need to start the process of resettlement as MPs from the region demanded more time to prepare the ground for the return of some 150,000 people living in camps.
The two leaders came face-to-face with the resistance from the Rift Valley MPs during a meeting at Kenyatta International Conference Centre, which was called to seek ways of removing obstacles preventing the return of people uprooted from their homes during the post-election violence in which over 1,200 people were killed and property worth billions of shillings burnt down.
Opposing plans
In a demonstration of the split between the Government and MPs from parts of Rift Valley, particularly the Nakuru region on the one hand and lawmakers from North and South Rift on the other, two sets of press briefings were held at Parliament Buildings at the end of the talks, with each side stating its position.
Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto, who led members from South and North Rift in opposing immediate resettlement plans said: "The President and the Prime Minister want to proceed with the resettlement of IDPs and they are touring the area as from Thursday.
"However, we are saying that we need time to prepare the ground for the return of displaced people. Resettlement of IDPs is a process and it cannot start tomorrow because even the IDPs have to be consulted."
Mr Ruto and Cherangany MP Joseph Kutuny said the meeting with President Kibaki and Mr Odinga had agreed to form a committee of lawmakers under the leadership of Special Programmes minister Naomi Shaban to agree on details of the resettlement plan.
"The final decision on whether the displaced people should be resettled immediately or not could be reached next week by the committee.
"The President and the Prime Minister are touring the affected area to see for themselves the situation on the ground. We need time to prepare for their return," said Mr Kutuny.
Took over chairs
The North Rift MPs had hardly moved away from the venue of the press conference when Central Rift leaders took over the chairs and declared that resettlement of displaced people must start immediately and without any conditions.
Led by assistant ministers Mwangi Kiunjuri and Ndiritu Muriithi, they accused their colleagues from South and North Rift of seeking excuses to extend the stay of internal refugees in camps whose conditions had deteriorated.
"No conditions should be attached to the immediate resettlement of displaced people. The Government should not allow a certain group that is dissatisfied with the way the cake was shared on their side to use IDPs to blackmail the Government," said Mr Kiunjuri.
Mr Muriithi urged the Government to urgently address resettlement of the refugees as a priority and told leaders to divorce politics from the plight of people who were ejected from their homes.
"It is a shame that some political leaders are playing politics with the misfortune that had befallen on our people.
"We are telling them that they should not use IDPs as political pawns and erase from their minds the belief that most IDPs were occupying land that was not theirs," he said.
The two sets of leaders had just attended the KICC meeting where they were addressed by President Kibaki, Prime Minister Odinga and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka on the need for displaced people to return to their homes immediately.
The meeting was called to address the security concerns of the refugees who were ready to return to their homes and the demands of the locals that issues of land ownership and ethnic relations be addressed.
However, the President, the PM and the VP left the two-and-a-half-hour meeting without addressing journalists.
Only the President's speech in the meeting and a brief on the progress on mitigation and resettlement of IDPs were issued by the Presidential Press Service.
In his speech, President Kibaki outlined the measures that the Government had taken to address the plight of internal refugees but noted that most of them were still in camps because they feared for their security.
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That was why, he said, he had convened the meeting to seek the cooperation of the region's MPs to assist in the safe return of the refugees.
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