MORE than 8,000 families of Internally Displaced Persons in the Rift Valley have pleaded with the government to complete their resettlement before the general election. They include families evicted from the Mau, Embobut and Kipkurere forests along some victims of the 2007/08 post-election violence. "It's only eight months to the polls and we are losing hope of ever being resettled by the government. It will be unfortunate for the next elections to find us homeless," said Paul Kinuthia on behalf of the IDPs.
Some of the victims were displaced from urban areas where they has established businesses. Kinuthia said the government should speed up the process of finding land for them. The government has provided Sh2 billion for the resettlement but no land has been found to be given to the victims. Special programmes minister Esther Murugi said the government is still searching for the land where all the families, including the forest evictees, will be resettled.
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