By Antony Gitonga                               

NAIVASHA KENYA: Drama unfolded during the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in Mai Mahiu after one group tried to block the other from boarding buses terming them as fake.

 The exercise at Jikaze IDP camp along the Naivasha- Mai Mahiu was disrupted for over two hours as the two groups differed as to who were the real IDP.

This emerged when government officers arrived in the camp to relocate over 70 families to a new farm in Laikipia.

But after calling out the names, some of the remaining families protested on the list arguing that majority of those heading to Laikipia were not genuine IDPs.

 During the early morning incident, some of the IDPs tried to forcefully eject others from the buses before government officers intervened.

 According to Mary Njeri who was displaced from Narok at the height of the post election violence in 2007 some of those who benefited from the land were not genuine IDPs.

 Njeri said that they feared being locked out at the expense of the group which did not live in the camp.

 “Some of those leaving do not stay in this camp but work in Naivasha and Mai Mahiu towns and have just arrived so as to get land,” she said.

 The camp chairlady Beatrice Dinda however defended the group saying that those in question had been registered as IDPs since 2008.

 Dinda who was among those who benefited from the resettlement said that all the genuine IDPs were registered by the government.

 “We had a problem with some of our colleagues who wanted some IDPs ejected from the bus but this has been solved and we are on our way to Laikipia,” she said.

 But as the IDPs were been relocated, those in Laikipia were complaining of hunger and accusing the government of abandoning them in the wildness.

 The group that was relocated from the Jikaze camp a month ago said that they did not have food and their tents were in bad condition.

 According to Rose Wanjiku they had gone for over a month without any food ration and the living conditions were wanting.

 “We are grateful for been resettled but we call the government to assist us in the first months before our lives takes off,” she appealed.