Jeff Otieno
12 May 2008
Nairobi — President Kibaki will Monday preside over a fundraising meeting in aid of resettling the displaced people.
The fundraiser expected to start at 11am will be held at Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
Dignitaries, among them, top government officials and members of the diplomatic corps will attend the harambee, whose aim is to raise an extra Sh29 billion to fill the budgetary deficit. About Sh30 billion is needed to fund the enormous task of returning internally displaced people to their homes.
Already the Government has donated Sh1 billion for the establishment of a fund headed by retired Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki. The committee that oversees the fund is charged with helping the Government to co-ordinate the raising of the funds and the resettlement programme.
The money raised will be used to help those displaced rebuild their homes, buy equipment and other necessities to begin a new life after the election violence.
Already thousands of uprooted people in Rift Valley and other parts of the country have gone back to their homes, thanks to an elaborate programme coordinated by the Government and the Kenya Red Cross Society. Some of those who had fled to the neighbouring Uganda also returned home last week.
However some displaced people in Rift Valley are yet to go home fearing for their safety.
Resettlement was one of the priority issues that the Grand Coalition Government promised to handle after the signing of the National Accord and Reconciliation pact.
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