The resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons is concluded and "the chapter closed", Nyandarua county commissioner Boaz Cherutich said on Monday.
But a decision has not been made on whether people claiming to be IDPs and not compensated will be considered, Cherutich told the Star by phone.
He was reacting to fresh demands for compensation by people claiming to be Nyandarua IDPs. The group accused their coordinator, James Mwaura, of faking names when the government released money for compensation, hence took away what was theirs.
Cherutich said should a decision be made, a list will be prepared and a thorough vetting done to establish the legitimacy of the claimants as they could have been paid elsewhere.
“It is interesting because there is a possibility that they were paid either at Eldoret or Nakuru," the administrator said.
The group, whose coordinator was John Kirua and James Wanjau (deputy) also accused the administration and the police of frustrating them, citing denial of their right to assemble and discuss issues affecting them.
They were to meet at Ol Kalou stadium on Saturday but they were denied access by police officers led by area OCS Moses Munyoki.
Wanjau said both the national and county governments should urgently address their plight. He said there are 556 integrated IDPs in Nyandarua who have never been compensated.
He claimed that the list Mwaura presented to the government for compensation had 1,087 people, most of them not genuine.
“Just the way we prayed for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto when they were facing charges at the International Criminal Court, we pray that they remember us too," the man who once deputised Mwaura said.
Agnes Wanjiku said it is painful for them to continue being hosted by other people while the government should have compensated them. She recalled how she was raped and infected with HIV/Aids during the 2007-08 post-election violence.
“My only two children and my husband were killed at Burnt Forest. Now I have no one and sometimes I even lack money for ARVs,” she said.
On August 17, she said, they applied for a permit to hold a meeting which was denied. On Saturday, despite having been allowed to hold the meeting by Ol Kalou OCS, the same police boss led a contingent of police which kept them away.
Francis Mungai said they want a change of leadership "because Mwaura is the source of all their problems as he listed strangers to take their compensation".
Contacted for comment, Mwaura termed the group as fake IDPs and their claims "outrageous". He echoed the county commissioners’ sentiments that the resettlement of IDPs was long concluded.
Edited by R.Wamochie
