Eldama Ravine IDPs demand Sh450,000, land before 2017 poll

Post election violence (PEV) victims during demos at Maji Mazuri in Eldama-Ravine, Baringo county, August 6, 2016. /JOSEPH KANGOGO
Post election violence (PEV) victims during demos at Maji Mazuri in Eldama-Ravine, Baringo county, August 6, 2016. /JOSEPH KANGOGO

Integrated IDPs at Eldama Ravine want the government to compensate them before the country sets stage for the 2017 general election.

The group, mostly victims of post election violence (PEV)

residing at Maji Mazuri in Baringo, held demonstrations on Saturday in a push for Sh450,000 for resettlement.

They also asked the government to allocate them land saying this was done for internally displaced persons at

Nakuru, Mogotio and Uasin Gishu camps.

The group of more than 10,000 said they have been forgotten since the post election injustices of 1992, 1997 and 2008.

Chairman

James Mwangi asked the Jubilee administration to pay them before the poll set for August.

He said too many of the victims have been living in

Maji Mazuri, Kaborwo, Mumberes, Makutano, Timoborua and Blue gum.

Others are at Mlango moja, Katarakwa, Mlango Tatu, Mlango Nne, Equator, Soi Mining and Boito shanty villages.

They include members of the

Kikuyu, Kalenjin and Nubian communities.

The group matched for several kilometers towards Eldma-Ravine town chanting slogans against leaders of Baringo county.

Mwangi accused Governor Benjamin Cheboi, Senator Gideon Moi and Eldama-Ravine MP Moses Lessonet of hiding them.

"We expected our leaders to take up the matter seriously and expose us to the world. We want President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto to know our plight," he said.

The protesters waved placards and said they would vote Jubilee out should they not be compensated.

Victim Samson Koech said he lost five kinsmen, 80 sheep and 12 cows at Narasha forest in 2008.

Koech noted that the government was yet to fulfill its promise to them after almost 10 years.

"We fail to understand if we are part of the government that we voted in. It seems to have turned a deaf hear on us at our time of need," he said,

Maji Mazuri MCA Peter Kimani said he had pushed for the compensation for long but had not succeeded.

The government had ordered all IDP camps closed saying all affected persons had been compensated.

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