No land yet for IDPs, Lands Minister says

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By Lucianne Limo

The Government is yet to buy land to resettle families displaced in post-election violence or evicted from Mau Forest.

Lands Minister James Orengo said although Sh1.4 billion was set aside to buy the land, none has been acquired.

"As we speak now, we should not be misled land has been bought to resettle people anywhere," Mr Orengo said.

Avoid waste

He said his ministry was exercising caution to avoid waste of public funds.

"We want to ensure due diligence in identifying land for purchase. If we rushed and spent public money on land without carrying out survey, we may end up missing the point," he added.

The minister said the resettlement should be above board, noting some individuals had surrendered title deeds for non-existent land.

"Some people offered title deeds so that they could be compensated but when our officers checked, they found the lands were non-existence," Orengo said.

He spoke after opening the third group-training course in geographical information science at the Kenya Institute of Surveying and Mapping.

Last Month, Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia said the government had purchased 8,000 acres of land in Nakuru to resettle the IDPs. He said the land given to them was not enough and could only accommodate 3,500 people given that each family was allocated 2 acres.

"We require extra 10,000 acres from interested land owners," the PS said in an interview with KTN.