Integrated IDPs living outside Ruring’u stadium in Nyeri town, on Friday said they are ready for vetting and resettlement by government.
The 314 IDPs welcomed an announcement by Deputy President William Ruto that all victims of the post elections violence will be resettled in the next one month.
However, when officials at the Department of Special Programmes in Nairobi were contacted on the directive by the Deputy President, they declined to comment, saying the IDPs issue had become a very sensitive subject.
HOPE
The group camping at Ruring’u say they hope the government had included them in the resettlement programme.
They have always been promised that their plight will be looked into, they said.
“We even held talks with the Nyeri County Commissioner on the issue and we were promised to be resettled. We hope that we are part of that resettlement programme,” said the Ruring’u camp IDP coordinator Peter Gitahi.
When contacted, County Commissioner Michael Mwangi said the names of the IDPs had been forwarded to the relevant ministry.
Following the reorganisation of government structures, Mr Mwangi said, the matter was now outside the jurisdiction of his office.
The relevant department will therefore handle it, he said.
VETTING
Mr Gitahi said they were ready to be vetted to establish who the genuine IDPs are.
“It is not our wish that we are camping here at Ruring’u, we are genuine IDPs contrary to what some people think.
We have genuine documents to show that we are IDPs and the government knows about this. If they want to vet us, we are ready for the exercise,” said Mr Gitahi.
He said the group had suffered as they sleep in the open and rely on well-wishers.
The few who are able to secure casual jobs are paid peanuts which cannot sustain them, he added.
“We have been suffering especially during this cold season. Most of our colleagues have ended up being admitted in hospital due to cold-related illnesses. We rarely get help,” he said.
He said the IDPs felt neglected and abandoned by the government.
The group has denied having received any form of compensation from the government since the initiation of the resettlement programme in 2008.
HARDSHIPS
Ms Alice Wanjiku, a mother of four and who was displaced from South Nyanza accused the government of neglecting them and urged it to fulfil its promise this time round.
She claimed she had been left out in the previous programmes as the government insisted that they should stay with their relatives and friends.
This, she said, was not viable due to the hard economic times.
Ms Joyce Wanjiru who was displaced from Timboroa in the Rift Valley said life had become unbearable and they urgently need help from the government.
She said two of her children had dropped out of school due to the hardships her family is going through.