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Kenya: Settlement of the Displaced Begins
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The Nation (Nairobi)
4 May 2008
Posted to the web 5 May 2008
Nairobi
The government has started settling internally displaced persons in Rift Valley Province.
Rift Valley PC Noor Hassan Noor launched the settlement drive dubbed "Operation Rudi Nyumbani" at the Kipkelion IDP camp in Kipkelion District on Friday. More than 500 families from the camp were moved to their farms.
And as the drive got underway, Lands minister James Orengo on Saturday called for the settlement of the displaced people to all the regions of the country.
Mr Orengo said Kenyans should have a right to own land and live anywhere in the country and wondered why the some people were only being settled in the Rift Valley.
"Not everybody should be resettled in Rift Valley. There are other areas in other provinces where they can be resettled," the minister said.
He said the country needs land law reforms to ensure that land problems are solved.
"Land issues are emotive and this is what has been causing a lot of problems in the country," he said.
The minister made the remarks at the homecoming party of Roads minister Kipkalya Kones at Bomet Stadium.
Cabinet minister Chris Obure and assistant ministers Lorna Laboso, Peter Kenneth, John Harun Mwau and Omingo Magara attended the colourful ceremony.
MPs Franklin Bett, Fred Kapondi, Kiema Kilonzo, Musa Sirma, Jakoyo Midiwo, David Koech and Magerer Langat also attended the party.
Mr Orengo hit out at Justice minister Martha Karua and their Nairobi Metropolitan Development counterpart Mutula Kilonzo for "misleading the public" on the protocol tussle between the Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.
"The principal advisors of the President are misleading Kenyans on the issue of protocol and instead should come out clear since the accord was signed between ODM and PNU and no other party was involved," he said.
"We need to put in place a new constitution that will look into the interests of Kenyans," he added. Mr Midiwo, who is the ODM chief whip, announced that Mutito MP Mr Kiema Kilonzo had joined ODM after allegedly being "short-changed" by his ODM-Kenya party leader Kalonzo Musyoka during the distribution of Cabinet positions.
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He called on the President and his associates to respect the peace accord. Mr Midiwo said land ownership issues in the country should be solved once and for all. Mr Magara asked communities in the region to coexist peacefully.
Mr Kenneth, who is an assistant minister in the Ministry of National Development and Vision 2030 also called for unity among all Kenyans saying this was the only way to end tribalism.
Stories by Sollo Kiragu, Geoffrey Rono and Noah Cheploen
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