IDPs accuse Kenyan Government of ignoring them

About 300 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) yesterday held a peaceful demonstration in Nyeri town demanding to be resettled by the Government.

They claimed the Government had sidelined them on grounds that they were not genuine IDPs.

The protesters marched from Ruringu Stadium, where they are currently camping in makeshift tents, through Nyeri town to the county commissioner's office.

When they arrived at the commissioner's office, they were temporarily barred from entering the premises by the Administration Police officers.

Their co-ordinator, Peter Gitahi, who claimed he was displaced from Eldoret in 2007, said the IDPs have suffered in camps for a long time.

"We have come to serve the Nyeri County Commissioner with a petition, which he should serve to the President because we have been suffering and we are still homeless and out in the cold," Mr Gitahi said.

County Commissioner Michael ole Tailal received the petition and promised to forward it to Nairobi.

In the petition, the IDPs argue that no action has been taken to compensate or resettle them despite letters to the area MP Esther Murugi, who incidentally served in the Ministry of Special Programmes and other relevant offices.

They also want the Government to compensate them with more emphasis on the most vulnerable groups of children, women and persons with disability.

The IDPs claim to encounter employment discrimination and have no moral or psycho-social support for the traumas they experienced during the 2007 post election violence.

Gitahi claimed that they had been denied their right to compensation yet IDPs in Eldoret and squatters from Embobut Forest received Sh410,000.

"As IDPs, we have not received any form of compensation, not even the Sh25,00 start up funds promised to help us rebuild our lives," Gitahi said.

Gladys Wanjiru said most of their concerns were on insecurity since many of the women and children were living in deplorable conditions.