Siaya,
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
KNA by Philip Onyango
Victims of the 2007 / 2008 post-election violence hailing from Nyanza and Western regions are appealing to the government to arrest members of a cartel that was fleeing them with a promise to ensure that they are compensated by the government.
Through their organisation, Nyanza and Western Kenya Internally Displaced Persons caucus, the victims are lamenting that the cartels are illegally collecting money from them as registration fees while doing nothing to champion their cause.
Led by the director of the caucus Eric Koyugi, the victims who met at the Christ Church of Africa (CCA) church in Siaya town Monday for prayers in memory of their colleagues who have since passed on said it was wrong for a few to turn their predicament into money minting venture while the government silently watched.
“We are asking the government to take stern action against the emerging cartels,” said Koyugi adding “the government knows these people who purport to speak for IDPs while in real sense, they are out to fleece them.”
Koyugi said the government had initially arrested some masqueraders but some have since emerged that are demanding up to Sh500/ from the victims as registration fees.
He said that the caucus filed a petition in Parliament demanding compensation of its members which sailed through and they were now waiting for the final word on when the same is finalised.
The caucus coordinator for Siaya Pascal Ouma Okuda called on the government to expedite the payment process, adding that whereas victims from other regions received compensation, those who hailed from Nyanza and western were forgotten once they received a token of Sh10,000 years ago.
The victims of the post elections violence, Maurice Obiero Ayiro and Beatrice Asiko Oyolo lamented that they have been forced to endure poverty over the years after they lost everything and fled for their lives.
Courtesy; KNA
