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Issuance
of titles to continue, confirms Kimunya
STANDARD,
Nairobi
Thursday November 24, 2005
By Eliud Miring’uh and Kipchumba Kemei
The ongoing programme of issuing
title deeds and settling landless families will continue despite
the outcome of the national referendum.
"The programme of issuing
title deeds and resettling people had nothing to do with the
outcome of the national referendum," former Lands minister,
Amos Kimunya, said yesterday.
Kimunya defended the decision to
issue title deeds to over 12,000 members of the Ogiek community in
Nakuru District two months ago.
"The issuance of titles to
members of the Ogiek was in line with Government policy and it was
part of our programme as a Government," Kimunya said.
And he said the ongoing
resettlement of people formerly evicted from Mau forest would not
be disrupted, as well as proposals to issue title deeds to
residents of Kimoini in Kibwezi constituency.
"I think my message was clear
that the ongoing programme was not at all connected with the
referendum campaigns," Kimunya said in response to a question.
Speaking during a telephone
interview, Kimunya said the move by Government to allow the
Kajiado County Council to manage the world-famous Amboseli
National Park was irreversible.
"The Amboseli National Park
has already been gazetted and handed to Kajiado County Council.
This decision by Government will stay," the minister said.
Kimunya welcomed the outcome of the
polls, saying Kenyans had spoken and their decision should be
respected.
But he expressed concern about the
pattern of voting saying "tribes voted against tribes"
while "some people were influenced by politicians who were
out to settle scores for personal gain."
"My worst fear is that there
are many people who fell victim of misinformation, but the moment
of truth shall soon dawn on them," said the minister.
He said the rejected constitution
contained "far-reaching" proposals that would have
changed peoples’ lives, but had been sacrificed at the altar of
politics.
Elsewhere, Narok DC, Hassan Farah,
said the resettlement of some 10,000 Mau forest evictees would
proceed as scheduled, adding that the programme was envisaged long
before the referendum.
He urged the victims currently
camping in various trading centres in Narok South and Bomet
District to be patient as the Government looked for an alternative
place for them.
But he said only 218 evictees out
of 3,155 whose title deeds were certified as genuine in last
month’s verification exercise would receive first priority
because they were considered to be vulnerable and poor. The rest,
he added, would wait a bit longer.
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