President Kibaki’s meeting with parliamentarians from part of Rift Valley Province was an opportunity to continue pushing healing and reconciliation efforts. It is timely in the wake of a survey showing a disconnect between some leaders from the area and their constituents on key issues.
On the question of leaving the Mau Forest, MPs are said to hold positions not supported by their constituents. While most people in affected areas say they are prepared to move under the conditions proposed by a Government task force, they also reveal political leaders are pressuring them to stay put while they fight their own battles for compensation.
The same is partly true of the resettlement of the internally displaced: The continued presence of 40,000 or so people in Wareng District in the last IDP camp and a series of transit sites also stems from hostility stoked up against resettlement by local MPs. While they criticised early efforts to get people to begin to forgive, politicians from the region are loath to make attempts of their own.
Peaceful Coexistence
We hope they dare not want to use IDPs as a bargaining chip in the Mau saga, just as they did in an attempt to spring a few hundred youth from police custody last year. The short-term political gains they may make with such tactics cannot be justified when compared with the damage they cause. Lawmakers should rally behind the push for peaceful coexistence desired by a vast majority of Kenyans, as demonstrated at reconciliation crusades and in rebuilding efforts.
