NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 3 – More than 25,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are yet to receive the Sh10,000 resettlement package from the government.
In a report released on Friday, the National Humanitarian Fund – which is mandated to organise resettlements – said 56,000 other displaced families had not been given the Sh25,000 earmarked for construction of houses.
“In spite of the achievements in resettling IDPs, a number of challenges still remain to be tackled. There are inadequate funds to resettle them,” said Archbishop Nzimbi Mwana a Nzeki, the Fund’s chairman.
He said providing houses and other basic needs to the IDPs and convincing them to relocate to their original homes were some of the tough challenges they had to deal with.
“Some of the IDPs in Eldoret, Nakuru and Naivasha were reluctant to relocate to their original places of displacement. They are demanding land and more than the Sh10,000 which the Government is offering.”
He said a shortage of funds had prevented the provision of farm inputs such as fertilizers and seeds to support farmers.
“The Government however has plans to provide some 78,000 farmers, some of them former IDPs, in the country’s breadbasket with free seeds and fertilizer. And another 19 tonnes of maize seeds will be given to 4,000 ex-IDPs in Molo during the current planting season,” the report said.
In the wake of communicable diseases such as cholera which has been confirmed in parts of the country, the Humanitarian Fund committee said they were financially constrained to provide clean water and sanitation.
“Since the transitional/satellite camps are temporary in nature, it has been very difficult to provide proper sanitation.”
According to the report about 700,000 people were displaced during the 2007 post election crisis.
Close to half of them moved to live with their relatives as integrated IDPs while the rest settled in camps.
Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces were the hardest hit with estimates of about 408,631 and 118, 547 displaced persons respectively.
The government through its operation Rudi Nyumbani launched in May last year managed to resettle about 350,000 IDPs.
Close to half of the displaced persons still remain unsettled one year since the post-election crisis broke out.
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