Parliament petitioned to compensate 84,597 IDPs from Nyanza and Western

Hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons outside Nakuru Law Courts on June 4, 2019. They are in pursuit of a case where they seek to be furnished with a list of names being used by the government to compensate their members with Sh. 6.5 billion allocated by the government. They believe that the money was allocate to wrong group and not the deserving ones. [Daniel Chege/Standard]

The government must ensure that 84,597 Internally Displaced Persons from Western and Nyanza regions who have been waiting for the last 17 years are urgently compensated to enable them to revert to a dignified life like their counterparts from the rest of the country.

In a petition presented to the National Assembly by Seme MP James Nyikal, the victims stated that the Post-Election Violence which occurred after the 2007 General Elections caused massive displacement of persons from their areas of residence into IDP camps.

Consequently, the government rolled out a resettlement program dubbed 'Operation Rudi Nyumbani' which was intended to facilitate IDPs to go back to their original homes but a section of IDPs especially from other regions apart from those from Nyanza and Western remained in camps.

“The IDPs who remained in designated camps were compensated by the government with monetary amounts of about Sh 400,000 while others even received land settlement. However, the IDPs from Nyanza and Western who benefited from 'Operation Rudi Nyumbani 'only received amounts of less than Sh 50,000 to facilitate them to go back home,” said Nyikal.

The Petitioners from Naivasha, Eldoret, Kericho, Nakuru and Nairobi are disgruntled that 17 years after the Post-Election Violence, they have not been compensated by the Government following the skirmishes of the 2007 General Elections, yet their counterparts who were in IDP camps in other parts of the country had been compensated.

Nyikal said since 2008, the representatives of the Nyanza-Western Kenya Caucus of IDPs have forwarded their concerns to the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government but the Government has not taken any tangible steps to address their plight.

The petitioners, Erick Oyugi, Pastor Joseph Ouko and Nereah Otieno who appeared before the National Assembly Petitions Committee representing the 84,597 IDPs from Nyanza and Western Kenya regions said their colleagues should be treated like their colleagues in other areas.

The caucus was formed after the collection of the records of the victims from Kisii (15,182 persons), Homa Bay (7,868 persons), Kisumu (15,963 persons), Siaya (20,194 persons), Kakamega (942 persons), Trans Nzoia (10,112 persons) and Migori (14,336 persons) counties.

“Only a handful of the Nyanza-Western Kenya Caucus of IDPs were compensated with negligible sums of Sh10,000, Sh 25,000 and Sh 50,000. These IDPs opted to leave the camps and go settle with their relatives, while IDPs from other regions remained and got fully compensated,” said Oyugi.

The petitioners said that most of the IDPs left the camps in Nakuru County and opted to go back home and settle with their relatives, whereas the IDPs from other regions of the country remained in the camps and got higher amounts of compensation that were commensurate to the loss incurred Sh 400,000 and parcels of land for resettlement.

Oyugi said that most of the victims from Nyanza and Western regions were living in distress as they have never been resettled or adequately compensated citing one of the victims who got wide media coverage, Mzee Benard Ndege who lost 11 members of his immediate family.

He said that when Ndege's home in Naivasha was torched resulting in the death of two wives and Nine children he was given only Sh 10,000 through 'Operation Rudi Nyumbani' money and that he has never been in a good mental state since then.

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki who appeared before the Committee in June 2023 while serving as the Interior Cabinet Secretary said that the total number of legitimate IDPs profiled in Nyanza and Western Regions due to Post Election Violence 2007, were 52,442 and 14,084 respectively.

“The standard operating procedures for identification and verification of the IDPs was developed jointly by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Special Programs in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and National Administration,” said Kindiki at the time

He said the role of the Ministry of Interior was to identify the IDPs while that of the Ministry of Special Programs was to verify and profile the legitimate IDPs who were thereafter registered and given a serial number where they also had to provide proof of loss, displacement, National ID Card, and bank details to be compensated.

Kindiki said that the payments were made in three phases with Category 1: being Sh 10, 000 to support households whose loss was identified as manageable with the beneficiaries including relatives who integrated them or had shelters to accommodate their families.

The Deputy President said that Category 2: includes Sh 25,000 to support households rebuilding their burnt shelters while in Category 3: there was an allocation of Sh 50,000 to support households that were immensely affected by the violence, lost their houses and livelihoods.

The National Assembly Petitions Committee Chairperson Nimrod Mbai said the Ministry of Interior should fast track the process of addressing the plight of Nyanza-Western Caucus of IDPs with a view of compensating all the genuine and deserving IDPs in the said caucus.

Mbai said the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Interior Kipchumba Murkomen must fully comply with national values and principles of governance as provided for in Article 10 of the Constitution, in particular Clause (2)(b) on human dignity, equity, and social justice, inclusiveness, non-discrimination, and perception of the marginalised.

“The government should recognise all categories of Internally Displaced Persons including reviewing upwards the amount of money paid to the integrated Internally Displaced Persons,” said Mbai.