Nairobi — Special Programmes minister Naomi Shaban Tuesday said that the the real figure of the squatters evicted from the Mau forest was yet to be ascertained.

Dr Shaban told Parliament that figures from the Kenya Forest Service anticipated only 1,683 squatters while the actual number on the ground, after the eviction, was 5,000 people.

With the discrepancy in the real number of squatters evicted, the minister will Wednesday make another visit to the forest to ascertain the correct number of the displaced in the water catchment area.

She said the ministry was still profiling the squatters with a view to giving them humanitarian aid.

On November 13, the minister said, food and non-food items worth Sh7 million were given to squatters in Bomet, Bureti and Kuresoi.

Dr Shaban was responding to Kisumu Town West MP Olago Aluoch who sought to know the fate of the squatters chased out of the forest.

Questions also arose from the MPs Joyce Laboso (Sotik, ODM) on whether it was wise for the minister to wait for the evictions and start to "profile people waiting on the roadside."

"Wouldn't it have been fair for this profiling to have been done for people before their removal from the forest so as to ascertain who the genuine squatters are?" posed Dr Laboso.

But as the question on the Mau evictees was raised in the House, Gatundu North MP Clement Waibara (PNU) raised his qualms with the minister over displaced people living in Kyeni after their eviction from Kyeni forest.

Mr Waibara petitioned the minister to give the affected people help.

The MP was joined by Ms Martha Karua (Gichugu, Narc-K), Njoroge Baiya (Githunguri) and nominated MP Millie Odhiambo who sought to know why the government was finding it difficult to settle squatters.

Mr Baiya accused the ministry of "discriminating" against squatters. Ms Odhiambo sought to know whether there was a comprehensive policy on IDPs in the country, while Mathira MP Ephraim Maina (PNU) and deputy Speaker Farah Maalim insisted on the need to compensate the displaced across the country.

"There are hundreds of Kenyans who've not been assisted, is there a masterplan to ensure that all of them are assisted?" the deputy Speaker asked.

However, Dr Shaban reckoned that while the issue of the displaced and their resettlement was important, "it can only be dealt with in phases."

The minister added that a comprehensive policy was being developed by the United Nations agencies and the Ministry of Justice to ensure that all the affected people are assisted.

She said that her mandate was for now fixed on the 2007 post-election victims, but all the other victims including those of floods, land clashes and cattle raids will also be assisted.