Nairobi — Poll chaos victims living in transitional camps will be resettled soon, Special Programmes minister Esther Murugi announced on Sunday.

She said the government had already identified land on which to settle them. The minister urged all the internally displaced persons to start preparing to move.

Their presence in the camps had become an embarrassment to the government, she added. The minister made the announcement when she visited Good Hope, Nyakiambi, Mawingu and Jedidiah IDP camps.

She promised to oversee the resettlement programme within the shortest time possible. The minister was accompanied by Ol Kalou MP Erastus Mureithi and Resettlement and Mitigation Board officials, led by vice-chairman, the Reverend Moses Akaranga.

They toured the vast greater Nyandarua District, where they witnessed the suffering of the victims during the heavy rains.

The IDPs national chairman, Mr Peter Kariuki, said that 87 people had lost their lives due to respiratory-related infections owing to the tattered tents that hardly keep away the cold.

Most of the tents allow rain water to pass through, thereby make life unbearable for the IDPs. The victims pleaded with the government to hasten the resettlement programme and help them with the Sh10,000 grant and a further Sh25,000 as promised earlier.

Mr Mureithi said that there were 30,000 people living with good Samaritans and others in rented houses, who needed to be urgently considered for resettlement.

The minister said her priority would be resettlement and not replacement of tents, adding that the government had promised to speedily move them to new farms, then close all the camps.