Displaced persons begin 200km march to petition Kibaki

By James Munyeki

More than 10,000 internally displaced persons at Mawingu camp in Ol Kalou want President Kibaki to order their immediate resettlement.

And to achieve this, they began a protest march to the State House to deliver the message to the President.

The IDPs, including their children and the elderly, started the 200km journey to Nairobi from their camp yesterday to petition President Kibaki over the matter.

"It will not matter the number of days we will take to get to State House, but the President must now listen to our grievances since we fear the coalition government might collapse before we are resettled," said Mr Peter Kariuki, who is leading the demonstration.

Mr Kariuki said they had withdrawn their children from schools to participate in the protest.

"We are determined to make a statement and be heard. That is why we have ensured all our children accompany us. We are tired of living in these deplorable conditions. Someone, this time the President, must listen to us," said Kariuki.

He said since they moved to the camp two years ago, 52 people had died due to deplorable conditions.

Central PC Kiplimo Rugut said they had pleaded with IDPs to give the Government more time to resettle them. "We believe someone has been inciting them on this. We want them to understand that we are doing something about their resettlement and we are doing the best that we can. We understand the poor conditions they are living under but we are calling for their patience," said the PC.

Mr Rugut said the Government had resettled more than 1,000 families saying plans to resettle the other 2,000 families still in the camp were under way.

By mid-day Tiesday, the IDPs had covered more than 20km on their way to Gilgil town.