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Mt Elgon: Michuki responds to critics
KENYA TIMES
By TIMES TEAM
10.04.2007
THE government yesterday defended its handling of Mt Elgon violence and disclosed that 280 people have so far been arrested while police were pursuing 80 others.
At least 13 suspected criminals have been killed by both Kenyan and Ugandan security forces for alleged involvement in the skirmishes that according to estimates have left about 150 people dead.
According to a statement signed by Internal Security Minister John Michuki, the 13 , most of whom were flushed out of their hideouts in the forest, were killed in fire exchange between them and they police after they defied orders to surrender.
The statement says that 71 innocent people have also been killed and another 23 injured. It puts the number of those displaced at 3,000.
However, this is against other reports which put the number of people displaced by the skirmishes that have persisted for the last six months at 60,000 and those killed at 150. The worst hit areas are the Kaberos and Kapkwes of Cheptais division.
At the same time, the government has extended the amnesty on the surrender of firearms illegally held by the warring factions in the area and further announced a fresh vetting process for the combatants locked in vicious battle over land allocation in Chebyuk settlement scheme.
Michuki said those surrendering the weapons should indicate whether they had been allocated land in the settlement scheme and whether they had been vetted prior to the allocation. If so, they should then register themselves for the government to take action.
As part of the process to bring to an end the killings, the minister said the time-frame for the amnesty has been extended to between April 16 and 18 of this year. Those surrendering the weapons should do so between 5.00am and 5.00pm at the Cheptais, Chebwek, Kipsongon, Chebyuk and Masai police posts.
Other weapons according to Michuki’s communications officer Kariuki Kinyanjui, should be surrendered to the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization (MYWO) and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHRC) representatives in the area and who will act as witnesses to the exercise.
And in response to claims that local politicians had instigated the skirmishes, Provincial Security and Intelligence Committee yesterday announced that it will meet with both the current and former members of parliament from the area today to ascertain the claims as well as discuss lasting peace. Those to be met include the current MP John Serut and the other two former MPs, Eric Kimkung and Wilberforce Kisiero.While exonerating the government from blame, the minister said the government has so far dispatched hundreds of security personnel to the troubled area over the last six months who have in turn arrested hundreds suspected criminals.
At the same time, Mr Michuki called for objectivity in reporting on the part of the media. The statement noted that the media had blown up the whole issue which is causing mixed signals.
“While the role of the media cannot be belaboured in the whole issue, sensational reporting and a passionate desire to influence the thinking of their consumers towards a particular direction will only stoke the fires of hatred in this emotive matter. Such is a time that responsible media must stand up for the count,” Said Michuki.
And with a view to finding the root cause of the current skirmishes, the government in the statement said that on April 3 this year, the provincial security team met 15 religious leaders of the main denominations in Mt Elgon and were promised by that those who did not benefit from previous land allocations but were genuine squatters would be allocated land soon.
At the same time the ministry of lands will soon issue title deeds to the 1, 772 beneficiaries of the Chebyuk settlement scheme. The number includes 886 Sois and the same number of Dorobos who were the beneficiaries of the Phase Three of the settlement scheme. The move, Michuki said, will instill security of tenure to the beneficiaries as well as halt land speculation in the area which is being blamed for the uncertainty surrounding the settlement scheme.
The governments response comes in the wake of calls by religious leaders and other Kenyans for the sacking of Minister Michuki for what they termed his failure to bring to an end the raging land related killings .
Those who called for the sacking of the minister included Archbishops Ndingi Mwana a Nzeki and Zaccheus Okoth (Catholic) and Benjamin Nzimbi (Anglican Church of Kenya) and Samson Mwangi Gaitho (African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa) who said that the minister should be relieved of his ministerial portfolio for failing to end the slaughter.
Elsewhere, assistant minister Samuel Moroto and former Cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott came to the defence of Michuki over the violence and laid blame on the Ministry of Lands and Settlement.
Moroto made a scathing attack on acting Lands minister Prof. Kivutha Kibwana, accusing him of failing to come up with a tangible solution to the violence that erupted as a result of a tussle for land, adding that Michuki could not be blamed.
Mr. Moroto who was speaking at Chepkorio showground in Keiyo South constituency hosted by area MP Biwott, charged that Michuki and the government had done a lot to contain the situation, explaining that even his own Pokot tribesmen were now putting cattle rustling aside and embracing peace and other economic activities.
Mr. Biwott said the clashes needed home grown solution, adding that the people of Rift valley and more so the Kalenjin people were disturbed by the killings since the area was the cradle of the community.
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