‘Nothing to go back to, just leave us here’

By Dedan Okanga

"A place gets into the blood, it is like being moved from the centre of what you know best..." — George Lamming

Caribbean writer George Lamming, in his book, In The Castle of My Skin, was referring to peasant labourers who were resisting being moved from land where they had lived for long in squalid conditions working for colonial masters.

A child at the Eldoret Showground IDP camp prepares charcoal for sale as another does house chores.

Such a scenario was replayed yesterday at the Eldoret Showground camp for displaced people, many of who resisted moving from the sprawling squalor of polythene paper tents despite the Government finally paying them resettlement dues.

The vice-chairman of the Humanitarian Fund Board, former Minister Moses Akaranga, pleaded with the IDPs to take the Sh35,000 being offered to each of 457 families, but many grumbled that they had nowhere to return to.

Others told Akaranga they still did not feel safe to return to their former homes.

Akaranga had gone to the largest IDP camp to lay down details of compensation of the final batch of over 2,000 IDPs who are scheduled to leave on Monday.

But Akaranga found himself having to persuade the IDPs that the Government would ensure their safety and that the money would help them to start off.

But, interviews with most of the IDPs revealed another problem the Government relocation team had not reckoned with.

Most of the IDPs had settled down to living in the camp, despite the odds.

Children go to local schools, especially in Langa estate. Many have started small-scale businesses, which have been sustaining them, while young men had been doing casual jobs around the town.

Former farms

Some feel the relocation to their former farms was another disruption from what they had settled down to.

Akaranga was taken aback when he heard voices of resistance, having arrived apparently prepared to deliver the ‘good news’.

Naomi Waithera had remained distraught since the day she heard of the imminent closure of the Eldoret Showground camp.

For the displaced mother of four, the sprawling camp had become a convenient site for her small business that fetched enough to sustain her struggling family.

Starting the business was not a walk in the park for her, as it meant sacrificing her shelter to raise the initial capital more than a year ago.

"I sold the tent allocated to me to start this business, and it was doing fine, but now I have no idea of an alternative site to relocate to," she said.

Former MP Moses Akaranga with Rift Valley Deputy PC Wanyama Musiambo and Wareng DC Alex Ole Nkoyo (center) at the Eldoret Showground. [PHOTO: PETER OCHIENG/STANDARD]

Her main worry at the moment is that the business she has sought hard and long to establish may not withstand the pressures of resettlement.

"I wish I had a little longer to plan before I leave because it will be painful to spend the relocation money am given by the Government on rent and to begin afresh yet again," she said.

Waithera’s feelings are repeated across the sprawling camp, where her fellow businessmen and women ponder how to start afresh back in homes that were destroyed in post-election violence.

The thousands of displaced people at the camp provided sufficient clientele to sustain over 100 different businesses.

For Mary Wambui, her projections of an expanded business before the close of the year will have to wait until she is certain of where she intends to settle.

Wambui lived and worked in Iten for most of her adult life until last year’s post-election violence in Eldoret.

"My concern is that I have no idea where I should be going once I get my pay, and whether my business will thrive at my new location," she said.

Terse warning

The Government, in a terse warning, asked all the displaced people to leave the camp promptly after they receive their dues.

"If we allow laxity in the exercise, impostors and other dishonest persons who may claim double compensation may overwhelm our efforts," said Eldoret South DC Alex ole Nkoyo.

Most of the businesses at the camp traded in foodstuffs, charcoal and firewood, which were about the very essential items that kept the misery-stricken families moving.

"They understood our plight and packaged sugar, tea leaves and flour into small quantities affordable to the poor like us," said Mwangi Gikonyo, a father of four.

"It is not that we are refusing to go back to our farms, but we have so many fears. I would rather live here or move on to somewhere else," said Gikonyo.

The final closure of the populous displacement camp therefore spells doom to the construction industries and other sectors that had found the place an ideal source of cheap labour.

Garbage collection

Large numbers of displaced men and women had enlisted into construction quarries and garbage collection companies, where they earned paltry incomes to sustain their families.

Shylocks have also benefited from some of the displaced people who managed to flee with part of their property to the camp.

But not all were apprehensive about relocation. Many welcomed it and said they would return to their farms.

A group of women and children were engrossed in song and dance as they welcomed the compensation, which they hoped would return their lives to where they were before the polls.

According to the IDPs, some self-serving non-governmental organisations NGOs have preyed on their misery to obtain money from various donors.

The NGOs styling themselves as humanitarian agencies have organised several conferences.