Last of Eldoret IDPs leave camp, reluctantly

After days of stalling, hundreds of people displaced by Kenya's post-election violence in early 2008 have begun leaving a camp in the western town of Eldoret after receiving cash handouts from the government.



Most of the estimated 2,700 internally displaced persons (IDPs) had, between 28 September and 1 October, declined to accept KSh35,000 [US$460] from the government to help them resettle. President Mwai Kibaki recently directed administrative officials and those in the Ministry of State for Special Programmes to ensure IDPs in camps were resettled within two weeks.



The IDPs, who have been living in the camp at the Eldoret showground of the Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK), are among the last of hundreds of thousands of people displaced when violence erupted across the country following disputed presidential elections.



"At first, those who feared to return to their homes declined to receive the money being given out by the government. But this has now changed, a lot of people have agreed to dismantle their tents, get the money and hope that the government will consider them when the time comes to get land," Ndung'u Wanjohi, chairman of the camp, told IRIN on 2 October.



The government provided trucks to move those who dismantled their tents and took the money.



Wanjohi said those who had declined the cash were mostly former tenants in informal settlements in Eldoret town and those who lived in rural areas of Uasin Gishu district.



"Some of these people feel that they are not welcome in the areas they lived in before the violence; many others were tenants in slum areas like Langas and Maili Nne. They do not have the money to rent new premises so they were hoping the directive by Kibaki that land should be found for IDPs would apply to them," he said. "We hope such people will actually get land or they will be helped to rebuild their lives somehow."



Wanjohi said he expected the move out of the camp to be completed by 7 October - "that is when we will have a meeting with government officials to discuss the issues of those who might have been left out of the lists of those getting the money from the government".

Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

The displaced at the ASK showground in Eldoret: In the past three days, the government has provided trucks to move those who dismantled their tents (file photo)

Left off the list



However, Tabitha Wambui, 35, said she was among a group of IDPs who have been left off the government's lists because she was away from the camp when officials counted camp members.



"What happens to me and my four children now? I was in hospital caring for my sick child when the counting was done, how will I survive when the camp is closed yet I am not getting the money?"



Another IDP, Grace Wairimu, 60, said the government should give special consideration to women-headed households who were left out of the government lists because they were not in the camp during the headcount.



"For instance, I came to this camp in January 2008 with my five children; two of my daughters have their own children but we all ended up in one tent because they are unmarried. Can the government consider treating my daughters as heads of families in their own right and give each of them the KSh35,000; after all, we were all affected by the violence?" Wairimu asked.



She said she was taking care of several grandchildren as her daughters undertook petty trade in Eldoret town. "I missed out on being counted because I had taken one of the children to hospital."



Wanjohi estimated that more than 200 families had, since 30 September, received the cash handout from the government and had left the camp, leaving at least 300 families.



The district commissioner for Wareng, Alex Ngoiyo, said he expected the camp to close in a week's time. "Anyone who will be left here after we pay those registered will be a stranger and we will not allow them to be here at the showground."



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