|
IDPs receive power deal with
mixed reactions
March 3, 2008
EA STANDARD
By Jane Akinyi
Displaced people at various camps in Kisumu town have received the
power sharing agreement between President Kibaki and Mr Raila
Odinga with mixed reactions.
Some have great hope that peace will prevail and they will go back
home.
Some are still too traumatised by what they went through, and
believe things will never be the same again, even after
reconciliation.
Mr Kenneth Odhiambo from Naivasha, who has been camping at St
Stephens ACK Cathedral, had followed the talks with bated breath,
hoping they would yield fruit.
"The talks were like wooing a woman, not knowing whether she will
say ‘yes’, but hoping that she will accept your proposal," he said.
He was happy a deal had finally been struck, a sign that things
would be normal again. He hopes to return to Nakuru where he had
lived as a mason for 14 years.
"Jadwaro ok kun (The needy do not grumble). I will go back to
Nakuru because that is where I earn a living to support my family,"
he said.
Mr Duncan Omondi, however, feels the PM was a raw deal.
"The Presidency is what we voted for. We have been denied our
democratic right," he said.
He says he will not return to Limuru, preferring instead to settle
in his ancestral home and farm or start a small business.
"After what I saw in Limuru, I cannot return even if the leaders
have reconciled. I will stay with my people," he said.
Mr Samuel Omondi also vows not to return to Limuru, where he had
practiced carpentry since 1985.
"I will never work there again. I saw people being hacked to death,
houses torched and infants burnt alive. I am still traumatised,"
he said.
Ms Dorothy Akinyi said even though a peace agreement had been
reached, bad blood would always exist between some communities.
"It will take time before people forgive each other and co-exist
peacefully because a lot of harm has been done," she said.
She added: "I can now go back, but only because I have to work. If
there were job opportunities in Kombewa, I would certainly remain
here because I won’t feel safe in that foreign land," she said.
Akinyi had been living at Kisumu Ndogo in Nakuru before she was
displaced and forced to camp at Afraha Stadium.
Meanwhile, an NGO, Uhuru Community Development Project, has set up
a children’s desk at St Stephen ACK Cathedral camp to help
re-unite displaced children with their families.
The project director, Mr Davies Okombo, said they would help
monitor the children to prevent cases of child theft that had been
witnessed at the camp.
|
