Stop playing games with the issue of IDPs

With just 48 days to the August date with voters, there is yet to emerge serious ideological contests to excite Kenyans. Voters themselves are so lethargic from running around chasing the cheap, subsidised and instantly vapourised maize flour the Government promised that they are in a state of funk, unable to think straight and hold their leaders, nay, tormentors, to account for the miscarriages of the last five years.

After so many false starts and promises, it is now said (I am not convinced) that several tonnes of maize, 690 metric tonnes to be precise, have arrived in the country and, perhaps, hungry Kenyans will not have to engage in fisticuffs in the supermarkets while scrambling to buy just one 2kg packet of maize flour.

There are mysteries surrounding the scarcity and importation of maize that nobody in an influential Government position is willing to conclusively address. And the man at whom accusing fingers point is very good at parrying pertinent issues; so full of self-importance and exuding so much insolence that he is impervious to the suffering of the very people he is out to woo for the renewal of some contract.

Unreliable administrators

Rural folks get to see and hear about the cheap flour on their television sets and radios. Mercifully (or is it?), their cries have finally reached someone, prompting action that, as usual, is more reflexive than properly thought out. Chiefs will be used to distribute cheap maize to villagers, and that is where more failure resides. As noble as the idea may be, there is need to put in place fool-proof mechanisms to guarantee the affordable maize actually reaches the intended people.

In early 2016, there was a report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission showing that food supplies for the needy in areas that had then been hit hard by drought, necessitating relief food supplies, did not benefit the intended. Most of the relief food supplies were diverted for commercial purposes by Government functionaries, mainly chiefs, who were involved in the distribution.

On several occasions in the past, some chiefs have been found selling relief food, but since little or no action was taken, the vice is likely to continue even now. Fictitious children's homes and shelters for the elderly were used then, and could be used today, to re-route the subsidised maize. Evidently, with the magnitude of corruption permeating every layer of society, those loopholes have not been plugged.

The matter of internally displaced persons (IDPs), by whatever names the Government calls them in futile attempts to split hairs, is vexatious. In February 2016, the Government, in the person of Deputy President William Ruto, gave Sh1 billion to the 'last' batch of IDPs (5,261 households), bringing the total pay-out to Sh17.5 billion. The DP said the Government was content all those affected by the 2007 post-election violence had been settled.

Until a few weeks back, that was presumed to be the case. Then, presto, immediately after the campaign period was declared by the electoral commission, President Uhuru Kenyatta was in Kisii County dishing out Sh358 million and Sh470 million for IDPs in Kisii and Nyamira respectively. From where did the 'new' unfortunates arise after official assurances by Mr Ruto?

Matters get murkier as new revelations show that as of now, 85,000 IDPs from 33 counties have not been paid. Where did all those billions earmarked for compensation go?

Interestingly, the Government last week suspended compensation to IDPs in Kisii ostensibly because the exercise had been infiltrated by imposters and undeserving individuals. This deceit cannot go unremarked. Logic dictates that to have arrived at the figures on the cheques, the President went to Kisii bearing a study to identify genuine IDPs had been carried out. It was not by divination or magic that Sh358 million was arrived at; there were factors that influenced the figure.

What then is Jubilee up to? Is it plausible that those cheques issued in Kisii and Nyamira were duds? Were they meant to portray Uhuru as a caring president even if it took him five years to present that front? The timing was suspect, and concluding that Jubilee had no intention to compensate IDPs cannot be too far-fetched.

Written cheques

That it was a ruse, a downright sick joke of a campaign gimmick to attract voters cannot be discounted entirely either. Days later, in Western, the UhuRuto duo did not have written cheques for those who suffered the ignominy of January 2008. It was a verbal promise that Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa would come bearing the goodies at a later date. If that doesn't go the way of the school laptop project, take me to task.

Key market centres around Kakamega are Shinyalu, Ileho, Navakholo, Chebuyusi, Bukura, Butere and Malava. Can roads to these centres be found on the Jubilee Delivery portal? Is the main road to Webuye on the portal? Mumias and Nzoia sugar firms are ailing. Pan Paper is still in a coma. What can Jubilee boast of in Western Kenya?

Mr Chagema is a correspondent at [email protected]