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The Forgotten Internal Refugees of Kenya
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Submitted by IQ4News on Tue, 17/01/2012 - 11:04am
By Joab Apollo
As Kenya anxiously awaits the verdict of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber later this week on the cases involving six suspects believed to have meted out violence in the 2008 post-election violence, all is not well with the victims who were uprooted from their homes. Theirs continue to be a life of hardship that gets complicated by the fact that Kenya gears for another general election.
At 86, one would ordinarily be expected to lead a life of hope, but for Truphena Moraa, life at the Murski IDP camp in Uasin Gishu County, is all doom and gloom. She struggles to make ends meet for her four grandchildren whose parents were killed during the violence.
“We are leading a life of doom. We do not have food, water and clothing. At my age I find it hard fending for these children. My son and daughter in law were murdered during the ethnic violence. Things get worse when it rains. The tents are worn out and the government does nothing,” Moraa narrates in front of the makeshift house put up for them by the Kenya Red Cross. While she says that calm has been restored in their previous homes, she cannot go back due to lack of security.
“There is peace. The divisions that rocked the country seem to have faded away, but we cannot just go and settle there without proper security from the government as the same was the case in 2007 before the election violence,” she adds, a fact that is supported by John Waithaka who reckons that the government has forgotten them.
“The government is biased in the resettlement of IDP’s. Many Internally Displace Persons have been resettled, but we at Murski still suffer. The Molo and Nakuru IDP’s were given a large parcel of land where they are now leading their life undeterred. But why not we? To me, we are all Kenyans irrespective of where you come from” Waithaka says.
But for Stephen Mwaura, the woes they are facing are due to lack of a good champion for their rights.
“I think we lack a defender of our rights. Our colleagues at some camps were able to get help because they had people who came out strongly to agitate for their rights. Our Member of Parliament Professor Margret Kamar is not bothered by our predicament. Many a times she moves around the constituency talking about peace and unity, but our affairs cannot be looked into. They have failed us together with the local administrators,” Mwaura states, adding that their suffering has been turned by leaders, Non-governmental Organizations and crooks as an avenue for self-enrichment.
“We suspect the Mau Summit Council, Chief and his assistant have been receiving help from NGOs and the government, but instead turn it as a conduit to fatten their accounts. The Chief and his assistant live in permanent houses and have bought pieces of land despite having lived here in the camp with us. Where did they get the money within this short period of time,” Mwaura asks.
She is supported by Nancy Kerubo who adds another twist to the saga.
“The Chief bought a nice car but even before it hit the road, it killed someone. Then after few weeks it collided with a fuel tanker, reducing it to nothing. To me, I think it was God’s plan because no one can survive on dirty cash. Someone somewhere has been benefitting behind our backs,” Kerubo says.
Kerubo adds that many people with all sorts of promises have visited them, but the pledges have not been forthcoming.
“We are being abused. There is one who came here last year and took pictures of children and telling us that he has gotten a sponsor for them. We are yet to see that man.” she says.
They hope that ICC verdict will bring justice and that Kenyans should be tolerant to one another. “I support the ICC as opposed to our Kenyan courts that are prone to manipulation by the executive. We hope that the trials will be in the best interest of Kenyans,” Waithaka adds.
“There is no point of butchering one another because of incitement by politicians. Kenyans must eat together on the same table,” states Moraa.
ICC judges Ekaterina Trendiflova, Hans-Peter Kaul and Cuno Tarfusser are set to determine whether the Kenyan cases will go on trial.
Comments
#1 This is such a sad story.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 17/01/2012 - 11:17am.
This is such a sad story. Where is all that international aid going to? I see the Kenyan governments are just full of election rhetoric. How can we help these people?
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