25 April 2008
Nairobi — As President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga started their three-day tour of Rift Valley to meet internal refugees Thursday, refugees in other provinces are asking why they have been forgotten.
In Kedong camp, Naivasha, the more than 1,800 refugees want the Government to also address their plight. The refugees, many of them former flower farm workers, claimed they had been forgotten. Ms Evelyn Musuya, a mother of three, is one of the displaced people hoping that the Government will focus attention on them. "I feel the issue of ethnicity should be top of the agenda for the President and the Prime Minister during their visit," Ms Musuya says.
Lag behind
The two principals, she said, should come out in the open and condemn ethnicity in the strongest terms possible in Naivasha and other areas.
"The country will continue to lag behind if the ghost of ethnicity is not exorcised," Ms Musuya said. Mr John Kimani, a father of six, says President Kibaki and Mr Odinga should now focus on the issue of internal refugees. "The issue of compensation should be on top of their agenda. Many people lost all they had worked for and bank on the two to chart a positive course for them. Many are now penniless and with dependants. It is a delicate matter that should be handled with utmost care," said Mr Kimani.
Mr Mohamed Ngugi, a father of four, demanded that the Government show seriousness in tackling the issue of resettlement. "They should get to the root cause of the clashes that occur every election year," said Mr Ngugi lamenting that those who were involved in business lost everything. Ms Caroline Atieno said the solution lay squarely with the President and Prime Minister. "We voted for them. They should now take charge otherwise we will only be moving in circles. We have become tired of remaining in the camps," said the mother of five.
The two principals, according to Mr John Matheu, should find ways of compensating businesspeople who lost their property. "We have already overstayed in camps and it's time the Government ensured all its citizens led a normal life," the father of three added.
Kicked out
In Kakamega, Ms Jane Muiruri, 40, is still waiting for the two principals to solve the controversial issue of refugees. "I'm staying at the camp with my husband and three children after we were kicked out of the house we rented at Lurambi Estate in Kakamega," she said.
She lost all her property including second-hand clothes she used to sell to earn a living. "The decision by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to visit affected families living in camps will help reunite the different communities and bring peace among Kenyans," she added. Ms Muiruri said her family had gone through hell and needed urgent assistance from Government. "We have spent all our savings and need financial support to begin our lives afresh," she said.
Mr Isaac Kimani has been living in the camp for the past four months. The 68-year-old, whose business was torched, said he had been waiting for the two leaders to visit the camps and see for themselves the plight of refugees.
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