Situation Remains Dire for Kenyan IDPs in Transit Camps

Nine months after Kenya’s discredited December 2007 presidential elections, Agnes Wangui’s life is yet to return to normal. She and her family are among hundreds of IDPs who were ferried from a displacement camp at the Eldoret Showground camp under a government resettlement plan codenamed Operation Rudi Nyumbani and moved to a ‘transit camp’ near their original homes at Illula, a small village just outside Eldoret town.

Although the IDPs are closer home, nothing much has changed for them - they are still living in squalor, huddled alongside 40 other families in a tented, treeless field the size of a football pitch with no proper sanitation, no clean water, and the short rains to contend with.

Although official reports indicate that almost all displacement camps have been vacated, most of the IDPs were simply transferred to ‘transit’ camps in the areas they originally came from, where they are now living under the same sordid conditions they have suffered ever since initial protests over the discredited handling of last December’s presidential election turned tribal.

The IDPs have no choice as most of them lost everything and cannot rebuild their homes, which were gutted down in the in the tribal skirmishes that erupted after President Mwai Kibaki and Opposition leader Raila Odinga both claimed victory in the controversial election. Patrick Nyongesa, a Kenya Red Cross official in charge of the North Rift, says most of the Rift Valley province IDPs still subsist of relief food.

“We still have about 80,000 people depending directly on our relief provisions, ” the Red Cross Regional Manager told Newsfromafrica.

Although their food situation remains dire, Nyongesa cites the lack of materials to rebuild their houses as a much greater challenge.

“There is less fear of renewed tribal fighting, and what these people need the most are iron sheets and timber, alongside farm inputs like seeds and fertilizer,” Nyongesa says.

With the government dithering on how to resolve the gaping housing crisis, the Kenya Red Cross has offered to build 1, 000 basic units for IDPs in areas where the local rival Kikuyu and Kalenjin tribes have reintegrated.

“Our only precondition is that they must agree to live together again before we assist them build. In fact, we require that the actual building be done by teams of volunteers from the two communities,” Nyongesa says.

According to Nyongesa, the pilot project at Matharu went well, with a combined force of Kalenjin and Kikuyu youths collaborating to build 40 one room units under the supervision of Red Cross workers.

Back at Illula, Wangui says the IDPs at the transit camp and their former neighbours have begun local attempts at reconciliation.

“When we initially came back from our various camps, there was tension and each side regarded the other coldly, but in due course, we began by greeting each other from a distance, then sharing a few words here and there,” Wangui says.

Elders on both sides took the cue and initiated a dialogue of sorts, initially using informal sessions before adopting a more structural method involving 15 representatives from each side. However, their reconciliation efforts are still many miles away from achieving any tangible results as mutual resentments still run deep.

“We are still yet to become completely free with each other, but we will continue talking for the sake of peace,” Wangui says.

However for some IDPs like Wangui, this is just a short term initiative. Her long-term plan is to relocate from the restive province once and for all. She hopes to obtain some compensation from the government and use it to reestablish her farming enterprise. This time, she plans to grow more wheat and maize and then pile up a substantial amount in savings, after which she will sell her farm at Illula and consolidate her reserves to buy a plot of land in “a more tolerant part of the country”.

“There will be elections every five years, and you can never be guaranteed that tribal animosities will not flare up again, ” Wangui says with an emphatic look in her eyes.

Nixon Oira, who coordinates the Eldoret Catholic Peace and Justice Commission, believes the apparent ineffectiveness of Operation Rudi Nyumbani stems from its hurried implementation without actively involving religious and humanitarian groups.

“The operation was a noble idea, but it should have included a more deliberate reconciliation campaign,” Oira, says.

Most of the IDPs at Illula say they are disappointed with the $128 ‘compensation’ provided by the state, saying they had hoped for a more substantial figure that would enable them at least obtain a roof over their heads. Moreover, some IDPs, like Wangui, have not yet received the token. Wangui’s family was missing from the disbursement list at the Eldoret showground camp when the local authorities began doling out the money. She was forced to leave her 17 year old daughter, Zipporah, to follow up on the payments at the camp, where she also attends a makeshift school.

Wangui’s family is not the only one. Twenty nine year old Peter Waweru has also opted to remain at the showground camp after realizing his name was missing from the payment list.
“Our camp leader compiled the list one night, walking through the camp and writing the names of people he found in their tents at that moment. Those of us who were absent from our tents were omitted, yet he included the names of non-resident visitors he found in some tents and never bothered to make any verification,” Peter says angrily, adding that his complaints have come to zilch as the government officials disbursing the money have refused to budge over the disputed list.

Meanwhile in Nairobi, all the country’s three main political parties face instability as rebellious cabinet ministers and members of parliament openly realign themselves ahead of elections scheduled for 2012, relegating the IDP resettlement issue to the sidelines.

Source: NewsfromAfrica