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Kenya: Mixed Expectations Greet the Arrival of President's Team in Rift Valley
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The Nation (Nairobi)
25 April 2008
Posted to the web 25 April 2008
Gakiha Weru
Nairobi
President Kibaki Thursday led a high-powered delegation to Eldoret for the first public rally by the grand coalition Government. This came in the wake of mixed expectations and a local population that is quietly unhappy with the Cabinet unveiled last week.
The internal refugees expected that the President and Prime Minister Raila Odinga would unveil a programme for their quick resettlement and compensation after the recent post-election violence. Local residents want a solution to the decades-old land problem and the release of people suspected to have been involved in the violence.
Unlike last year, when a huge crowd turned up during the President's last visit before the elections, only hundreds of people lined up the Eldoret streets Thursday. Standing in small groups at street corners, the residents quietly discussed the significance of the visit.
The plane carrying the President landed at Eldoret airstrip at 10.13am. He was received by the Prime Minister who, together with Agriculture minister William Ruto, had arrived earlier. From the airstrip, the President and his delegation sped through Eldoret Town in a convoy to Eldoret State Lodge. They emerged one-and-a-half hours later, after a closed-door meeting, and went to Eldoret showground where tens of thousands of people displaced by the post-election violence have been camping since early this year.
Face-to-face
The leaders took a tour of the camp and came face-to-face with the destitution the refugees live in. On the fences, they saw the tattered clothes hanging out to dry. And walking through the maze of footpaths that criss-cross the camp, they came across small pots placed on fires made outside the tents as well as expectant women and half-naked children bewildered by the sudden intrusion by the strange people.
Cheering intensified when the President and Mr Odinga stopped to peer into one of the tents. Afterwards, the entourage left the camp for Kipchoge Keino Stadium for a rally. Here, the expectations of different communities were played out. Mr Ruto was cheered by a section of the crowd when he called for the release of violence suspects and the reinstatement of chiefs suspended for failing to contain the mayhem.
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Similarly, the President was cheered by a section of the crowd when he declared that Kenyans had a right to own land anywhere in the country.
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