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Move to
settle thousands is not new, say ministers
Story by BERNARD NAMUNANE and TONY KAGO
NATION, Nairobi
Publication
Date: 05. Oct. 2005
Senior officials yesterday denied
that the Government's decision to resettle people recently evicted
from Rift Valley forests has anything to do with the referendum.
Vice-President Moody Awori and two
Cabinet ministers said it was a normal practice for a government
to resettle people.
Mr Awori said: "It is a mere
coincidence as the Government has been reviewing the situation
over the time. Do not read too much into it. The Government must
continue to govern"
Mr Amos Kimunya (Lands) Mr John
Koech (Regional Co-operation) also delinked from the referendum
the resettlement plan announced by President Kibaki on Monday.
Mr Kimunya said the task had
started immediately after thousands of families were evicted in
June.
He said: "We are settling them
on humanitarian grounds because we know they were cheated out of
their money in the forests. We cannot close down our offices until
the referendum is over for us to act."
Some would be settled on 282 blocks
of land identified in Nakuru District in a "settlement scheme
rationalisation" that began after the evictions from Mau
Forest.
However, Mr Kimunya declined to say
where the rest of the families will be resettled.
Speaking in his Ardhi House offices,
Nairobi, Mr Kimunya, said: "I have the full list of the
registration numbers of the parcels. But I will not disclose them
for fear that people might invade them. This is a sensitive
job."
For his part, Mr Koech said those
who doubt his pledge to those evicted that they will be resettled
were wrong.
He said: "This is what I have
been fighting for and now our people can have somewhere to live.
The MPs should stop telling lies to the the Kalenjin," he
said.
He urged Rift Valley residents not
be cheated that their land will be repossessed and given to other
communities.
To save the forest, the Government
evicted more than 50,000 families from Mau Forest, prompting
outrage from the Opposition and the churches.
Others to be resettled include
12,000 Ogiek families ejected from the forest early this year.
They will now receive title deeds for parcels of land at Ndoinet,
Saino, Baraget, Tinet-Kabongoi and Tinet schemes.
Mr Kimunya clarified that each
would pay only Sh5,000 for a title deed and not for every acre, as
has been reported.
A meeting will be held in
Olenguruone next Friday to give the Ogiek families their title
deeds.
On Monday, President Kibaki said in
a statement that the Government would resettle families evicted
from the Mau Forest and allowed those who live outside the
boundary to go back to their farms.
The move has been interpreted by
crusaders of the No vote at the referendum as a tactic to win Yes
votes.
MPs William Ruto (Eldoret North),
Nick Salat (Bomet) and Charles Keter (Belgut) claimed it was a
"Government ploy" to win Kalenjin votes and demanded
that the Government reveal the specific parcels of land it has
identified.
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