NYAHURURU, Kenya, Apr 12 – The government has identified over 10,000 acres of land to resettle the remaining Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) still living in camps, Director of Provincial Administration Joseph Irungu said on Monday.
Mr Irungu said that the final procedures in acquiring the parcels of land were being carried out in order for the government to resettle the displaced families once and for all.
Speaking when he oversaw the resettlement of 49 IDP families at the 173-acre Kaimbaga farm in Ol-Kalou, Nyandarua Central district, Mr Irungu assured that all the displaced persons across the country would be resettled soon.
The 49 IDP families included 24 from Ngatunyi and 25 from Mawingu camps in Kipipiri and Nyandarua Central districts where each family got two and a quarter acres.
The quarter acre is meant for settlement while the remaining two are for farming.
The Director of Provincial Administration also said that the IDPs would be provided with 20 iron sheets, 20 building poles together with other building materials to assist them build homes in their new land.
He further said that the government would continue providing the displaced persons with relief food until they started harvesting their crops adding that 30 bags of maize, 30 bags of beans and cartons of cooking oil would be distributed to the families in two days time.
The elated IDPs were also issued with allotment letters for their newly acquired parcels of land as they await title deeds to be processed by Ministry of Lands officials who accompanied Mr Irungu to Kaimbaga farm.
Nyandarua Central District Commissioner Samson Ojwang’, who accompanied the official and escorted the families from Mawingu camp to their new land at Kaimbaga, said that the government had so far resettled 1,054 families from Mawingu camp in the district.
Mr Ojwang noted that the IDP families living at Mawingu camp were a very hardworking lot as they had engaged in farming while at the camp on rented parcels of land nearby.
He said that the government would also provide them with seeds and fertilizer.
Resettlement of the 49 families brings to 156 IDP families of about 800 individuals who have so far been resettled this week with 37 families having been resettled at Rwang’ondu area in Kuresoi district and the remaining 70 settled at another farm in Rongai district.
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