Monday, April 16, 2012
Why does the Goverment play so many Games?
Government resettles first batch of
Mau forest evictees
Photo/FILE Chebugen Camp at the edge of Mau Forest where some of the people evicted from the complex are living.
By SAMUEL KOECH skkoech@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, April 14 2012 at 22:30
IN SUMMARY
240 households given land at Chemusian Farm in Kipkabus, Eldoret as Special Programmes minister assures others will be
resettled
The Ministry of Special Programmes has finally resettled the first batch of Mau forest evictees three years
after they were flashed out of the water tower.
The 240 evictees were given alternative settlement at Chemusian Farm, Kipkabus in Eldoret East District.
Minister for Special Progammes Esther Murugi, who presided over the exercise, said that the government
would speed up the countrywide process of settling IDPs and forest evictees.
“Although ther
e have been a myriad challenges in trying to settle them, we are happy with the progress.
We are almost through with the settling of IDPs but the first batch of forest evictees has been settled
today. We are in the process of identifying chunks of land to
settle the others,” said Ms Murugi.
The minister said that identification of land has been the major impediment to the exercise. She also
added social and political challenges had led to some landless people facing hostile reception from the
host communities.
“Land owners have consistently hiked land prices therefore making it difficult to work within our budget.
Some of the displaced people also faced hostilities from a number of host communities,” she added.
5,710 households
The permanent Secretary for Special Programmes, Mr Andrew Mondoh, said the government evicted
5,710 households residing in four gazetted forests.
The PS added that it had managed to settle evictees from Chepyuk forest in Mount Elgon.
“We have
forest evictees from Embobut in Marawet, Mau, Tinderet in Trans Nzoia and Kieni Forest in
Gatundu. The Government continues to identify suitable land for resettlement with a view to ensuring
that all forest evictees have been resettled as soon as possible,” said Mr Mondoh.
The permanent secretary added that there are 2,000 internally displaced persons that are yet to be
resettled, adding that the ministry had received Sh4.4 billion and has so far used Sh3.3 billion towards
the resettlement exercise.
Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Osman Warfa urged the local communities to interograte well and
enhance peace to spur development in the area. He cautioned politicians against inciting the local
residents warning that those who do would be dealt with.
“The local community should integrate and harmon
ise well with the evictees to ensure peace prevails at
all time. The provincial administration will deal with politicians trying to incite the local residents,” said
the PC.
The Special Programmes ministry provided more than 300 tents, beans, maize, foodstuffs and promised
to provide them with seeds and fertiliser to enable them prepare for the planting season.
Meanwhile, internally displaced persons living in Naka camp in Eldoret on Saturday held demonstrations
to protest the alleged sale of relief food by some of the officials in the camp.
The IDPs claimed that the chairman of the camp has been colluding with his officials to sell off maize,
beans and cooking oil. The IDPs intercepted a consignment of more than 100 bags of maize that was
being packaged ready for sale at Langas.
“The chairman has been using the relief foods meant for the displaced persons to enrich himself and some
official at the camp. He redirected some bags of maize and was on the process of repackaging them ready
for sale,” said Mr Bilda
d Karanja, vice chairman of the Naka camp.
The consignment was being transported to the camp to benefit more than 120 households that have been
living at the camp since the 2007/08 post-election violence.
The maize was packed in National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) bags.
“We trailed the car ferrying the bags after it changed route and we found the chairman trying to unpack
the maize ready for sale. We demand that police investigate how long the syndicate has been going on,”
said Mary Wambui an IDP putting up at the camp.
One official at the camp is said to have fled to safety after the irate group tried to rough him up. He has
also been accused of seeking sexual favours from women at the camp in exchange for relief food.
More than 600,000 people were displaced after the violence with majority of them having been resettled
after living in the camps for more than four years. Those who did not stay in the camps went to their
homes of origin while another group was settled in Uganda.
More than 1,000 people were killed in the fighting
Insatiable Greed is the Bottomline
Nepotism is the real issue, not tribalism
By GABRIEL DOLAN
Posted Friday, December 30 2011 at 18:15
Posted Friday, December 30 2011 at 18:15
What baffles me most about reaction to remarks made by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights commissioner Hassan Omar Hassan is why he needed to spend five hours at the National Integration and Cohesion Commission explaining himself.
Surely, even a cursory glance at his commentary would reveal that he was just repeating what the NCIC themselves had exposed in their April audit on ethnic profiling in the civil service.
That research revealed that the big five — Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luhya, Kamba and Luo — occupy 70 per cent of positions in the civil service, while 20 ethnic communities hold less than one per cent.
Hassan might have been blunt in his remarks but the fact that Kikuyus hold 22.3 per cent of all civil service jobs and make up only 17 per cent of the population tells it all.
Statistics do not lie. Besides, having your own man in State House is a huge advantage, confirmed by the fact that Kalenjins hold 16.7 per cent of all civil service posts despite accounting for only 13 per cent of the population.
Considered together, both communities have around 30 per cent more positions than they should.
Yet, statistics can conceal important details. It would appear upon further scrutiny of these figures that cronyism and nepotism are even greater problems than ethnicity.
A closer look at the composition of all the top posts that Hassan raved about would show that loyalty, cronyism and blood ties were the determining factors in allocating most top positions.
The Kikuyu top jobs are not widely distributed among their community, nor indeed are the Luo jobs well dispersed among the Nyanza population.
Previous audits on the composition of 51 Kenyan envoys showed how loyalty and family were rewarded equally by both principals.
Their appointments give a whole new meaning to power sharing. Both parties are equally adept at planting their cronies and family members as ambassadors.
A closer examination also of not just the Prime Minister’s office, but every other of the 40-something ministers in this bloated cabinet would reveal that in the absence of any opposition or oversight body, every minister has put his family and buddies in top jobs.
If you doubt the extent of the problem, have a look at any Kenya Gazette of the past couple of years and get an informed view of appointments to parastatal boards, university governing councils or any one of hundreds of committees.
You will see that cousins, failed politicians and disgraced administrators reappear in obscure committees and collect hefty sitting allowances as they decide on weighty matters for which they have no aptitude or experience.
The Kikuyu may have found the most lucrative positions at the trough, but they do not have a monopoly on greedy ambition.
This coalition grudgingly agreed to sit quietly and eat together in February 2008. The two elite groups are the real beneficiaries, not the communities from where they originate.
Mr Hassan missed to say that the big issue is not tribalism but elitism, cronyism, nepotism and insatiable greed. Happy and Prosperous Year to all.
An inspirational speech to start your morning (Video)
In Charlie Chaplin’s film The Great Dictator (1940), Chaplin plays a poor Jewish barber that is mistaken for Adolf Hitler. The film ends with what many critics regard as one of the greatest speeches of all time.An inspirational speech to start your morning (Video)
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