Leaders oppose Government’s plan to resettle IDPs in Taveta

Leaders in Taita-Taveta have vowed not to allow the Government to resettle internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the district.

The leaders, who included former legislators, elders, youth and women leaders, said the land on which the Government plans to resettle the IDPs should instead be allocated to landless residents in the region.

Led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) national chairman Mr Mwandawiro Mganga, former MPs Eliud Mcharo and Basil Mwakiringo, the leaders said the Government’s plans to resettle thousands of IDPs in the region should be shelved.

"The Government is planning to destabilise the county by bringing a large population of people from outside. The move is unacceptable," they said.

They were speaking to journalists in Voi town. Among those present included Taita Council of Elders chairman Gabriel Nyambu, Taveta Council of Elders spokesman Nahashon Mkunde and chairman of the Taita-Taveta Reform Caucus Mwakazi Mtongolo.

The leaders spoke as the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Services Development Naomi Shaban said the Government had no plans to resettle IDPs in the area as claimed by politicians in the county.

Shaban, who is also the Taveta MP, dismissed the reports as baseless and urged the locals to ignore them.

Area MPs among them Calsit Mwatela (Mwatate), Dan Mwazo (Voi) and Thomas Mwadeghu have also opposed the Government’s plan to move IDPs in the area.

The leaders had earlier held a demonstration and accused successive Governments of doing little to address the squatter issue.

They petitioned Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Lands Minister James Orengo to support the local community in their quest to reject the planned resettlement.

Mkunde said 62 per cent of land in the area was occupied by the Tsavo National Park and there was no land to settle outsiders. 

"We’re only settling on a 11 per cent," he said.

Mkunde said the Government should look for alternative land to resettle the IDPs.

Mganga said it was wrong for the Government to buy land in the county that had been illegally acquired for resettlement of IDPs.

Mwakiringo asked the Government to stop creating unnecessary tension in the area by bringing in IDPs.

"The Government has machinery to take back IDPs to their original farms and protect them from attacks.

It should shelves its plans of bringing them in the region as residents will not allow them to settle here," he warned.

A youth leader in Taveta, Mike Banton, said out of about 63,000 people in the area, about 23,000 were squatters. 

Source: E A Standard