Former President Mwai Kibaki was feted as the first group of Internally Displaced Persons from the infamous 2007/2007 finally received their title deeds.
Governor Lee Kinyanjui said it was Kibaki's dream to ensure that all the IDPs were permanently settled as compensation for their losses during the violence that saw more than 1,300 people dead and thousands of others uprooted from their homes.
The titling of IDP families at Giwa Settlement Scheme in Rongai Sub-County on Tuesday, November 17 was a landmark event as they are the first lot to get the land ownership documents.
The Giwa group also happens to be the first to be relocated to a camp in Mawingu where they had bought very small pieces of land with the initial Sh20,000 they received from the government.
Kinyanjui recounted the group's journey from the first day it landed in Nakuru, traumatised and depressed after losing everything, including their loved ones in the violence that followed the announcement of the 2007 General Elections Presidential results.
"I was then a young newly elected MP when former President Kibaki personally called me and asked me what we wanted to do for the IDPs because he was disturbed by the deplorable conditions they were living in at Nakuru Agricultural Society of Kenya showground where they stayed for close to a year," he said.
COMMITMENT
The Governor said Kibaki was ready to set aside government funds for the restoration of people who had been displaced with each getting two acres for farming and a quarter acre for settlement.
"As you celebrate this big milestone, remember Kibaki is a special way because this was his dream, that all those who suffered will not be left to waste away," he said.
He also thanked the people of Rongai for allowing the settlement of IDPs in their area noting that efforts to buy resettlement land for the PEV victims in some other parts of the country were futile after residents declined.
There were other parts with vast pieces of land where IDPs could be resettled but the residents were not ready to accommodate them," said Kinyanjui who was accompanied by his deputy, Erick Korir and other senior county officials.
He expressed gratitude in knowing that the news-comers who have been on the land for more than 10 years were well integrated with the residents.
He said it was time for the beneficiaries of the titling program who are victims of 2007/2008 Post Election Violence to shrug off the tag of IDPs which they had been bearing for the past 14 years.
"With the title deeds, the residents of Giwa settlement scheme in Visoi, Rongai Subcounty are now rightful owners of the land and are no longer IDPs," he said. He added that they could confidently develop their land and even use it to acquire funding to invest.
However, Kinyajui warned the beneficiaries against rushing to sell their land as there were major developments including road upgrades, an avocado factory that will increase the value of land and offer opportunities for rentals and other businesses.
"Land prospectors and other interested groups have heard that you have been issued title deeds and they will come to you with very good offers but I advise you against selling the land without proper reasons," he said.
He observed that it would be to return to the area after a few years to find them landless again.
The governor noted that there were other groups of IDPs in the county including government forest evictees who were kicked out of Mau Forest Complex.
Some of the Mau Forest evictees are still living in a congested camp without proper amenities in Lomolo along the Nakuru-Baringo border since their eviction in 2009/2010.
"The county in collaboration with the National Government will issue title deeds to the IDPs in other areas across the county, including Lomolo within the next six months," Kinyanjui promised.
He said his administration will also issue 29 market centres across the county with titles in its effort to secure public utilities.
The Nakuru County Government has been on a titling program over the past three years and has issued 70,000 title deeds so far.
Edited by D Tarus
