By Dickens Wasonga
The country may not know that even in the just concluded polls there were IDPs, only that this time they were quickly compensated and they moved back to their homes.
This was the case in Kisumu’s Kondele and Car wash areas where some people pitched camp at the Kondele police station albeit briefly. However its the good gesture by the government in Kisumu to coordinate efforts facilitated by well-wishers to appease these Kenyans that has left tongues wagging with a section of Nyanza IDPs of 2007 election related violence lamenting that they were a forgotten lot .
At the heart of the matter is the Sh 10,000 payment each of the more than fifty families said to have been evicted from their homes in Kisumu after the Supreme Court verdict on March 4 polls received.
Some fifty three families allegedly dashed to police stations in Kisumu out of fear immediately the court upheld Uhuru Kenyatta Presidency.
Spontaneous protests rocked parts of the city among them Kondele, Nyalenda, Nyawita and Obunga areas immediately the ruling was made but police moved swiftly to quell the tension.
Later, Kisumu East District Commissioner Willy Cheboi told Journalists that the security team had directed all the families camping at the police stations to vacate them since there was no cause for alarm.
The DC warned that some people were masquerading as Internally Displaced Persons to seek favors from the Government.
However, it later emerged that the families were compensated despite the government officer’s earlier claims that they would not be compensated since their property were safe.
When contacted for comments regarding the payment of the families, Kisumu East DC Willy Cheboi said he would not comment on the matter since his office did not coordinate the payments.
“The coordination of the payment was made by the County Commissioner’s office hence the officer is at the right position to comment on the matter,” Cheboi said.
The County Commissioner Lorna Odero when contacted confirmed payment of cash to the said families.
She however, denied the payment being from the Government.
“We paid the families but not from government funds. The payment was coordinated by my office but the money came from well wishers,” Odero said.
She pointed out that The Kenya Red Cross, the disaster committee and the Kisumu Rescue Committee gave out the funds for compensation.
Several IDPs in Nyanza have in the past raised concerns over the delay in compensation by the government.
They have raised complaints of not receiving compensation as their colleagues from other parts of the country and wondered how quick “a few in Kisumu were paid after the Supreme court verdict.”
Their leaders claimed the move was a clear pointer to their earlier claims that the government was favoring some IDPs while ignoring the plight of some who have been kept waiting for assistance five years down the line especially those from Nyanza who returned to the region after fleeing violence of 2007 election .
According to the chairman of 2007 IDPs from Nyanza Mr. Nelson Owegi not even a half of the 126,000 returnees from the region have been compensated by the state over the loss they suffered in the skirmishes.
Owegi said this was despite earlier promises made to them last year in August by the PS Andrew Mondoh during a meeting held at the PCs office which was atttended by representatives of the victims from across the region.
” We even visited the PS in his office in Nairobi four months later for a follow up meeting and he promised us payment before the general elections. We feel we are being discriminated by the government” he said.
Owegi was forced to flee the violence from Limuru where he was doing business and suffered a great loss during the violence which rocked the country following the disputed results of 2007 polls.
ENDS.