It was baptism by fire for Dr. Naomi Shabaan the Minister of State in charge of Special Programmes. It was the first time for her to step in the cabinet as a full cabinet minister only to come face to face with the country in flames and murderous chaos, the aftermath of the contentious violence provoking 2007 general elections.
Dealing with the immediate aftermath and the long-term daunting tasks involved, squarely fell on Dr. Shabaan’s shoulders through her ministerial docket. Six months after the cessation of the violence she is till deeply involved in dealing with the yet to be completed uphill wide range of challenges.
The challenges on her shoulders right from the time she was sworn into the cabinet included preaching peace to the otherwise still hostile warring communities and groups to end conflict. It meant being at the centre of the reconciliation and power sharing talks brokered by former United Nations Secretary General, Koffi Annan.
That was just the beginning - the question of the government assisting some of the bereaved families to bury the estimated 1,200 dead was yet to follow. Immediately after, came the ongoing Rudi Nyumbani Operation programme to resettle more than 350,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Says Dr. Shabaan: “This is still a major challenge because of the huge amounts of financial, manpower, material, medicine/medical services, vehicles, food, clothing and beddings, logistics resources amongst hundreds of thousands of other things required to make the programme a complete success.”
Despite the efforts, there are still many political, social, emotional, medical, educational hurdles to overcome, some of them emerging on a day to day basis from region to region to complete the exercise that began in earnest three months ago.
At the beginning of the exercise, Dr. Shabaan says the government in collaboration with both local and international humanitarian organizations worked on assisting some of the displaced persons to be returned to their rural or ancestral homes by providing means of transport, food and security.
Most of those affected had been working in farms as well as large scale plantations in parts of central, Rift Valley, even Nairobi and Eastern provinces and had to be transported over long distances to their various up-country destinations.
“As we all now know, the worst affected were the children and women who bore and are still bearing the brunt of that violence. As a woman leader and mother in charge of bringing everything back to as humanly normal as can be, this is a big challenge - emotionally, physically and mentally. That is why I spend a lot of time and energy away from the office in the IDP camps and resettlement areas,” she said.
When President Mwai Kibaki accompanied by Prime Minister, Raila Odinga toured various parts of the country in April in the affected areas to preach peace, immediately after signing the power sharing deal, Dr. Shabaan was right in the middle.
When the president decided to publicly raise funds at the Kenyatta International Conference (KICC) to get an estimated Kshs 31 billion required for the resettlement and compensation process, it was clear to observers that Dr. Shabaan was the only woman leader in the current parliament or cabinet at the centre of the IDPs issue.
However, after that she seems to have been left on her own to grapple with the resettlement issues amidst widespread political demands and counter demands of certain conditions to be met before the process and criticism of all manner over the programme - all from across the Party of National Unity (PNU) - Orange Democratic Movement political parties divide.
Perhaps the hottest debate was that sparked off by the Rift Valley legislators’ demanding that the government must release the youths who were arrested and detained by the police due to their suspected involvement in the post general elections violence, a debate that dragged in both the president and prime minister on opposing sides.
Says Dr. Shabaan: “The whole hiatus raised by the debate threatened the resettlement of the displaced. It raised the still raw tempers. I had to stay steadfast and focused, because everything seemed to have been completely left on my shoulders. I had to remain completely neutral and ensure that I got support however little from all sides and corners.”
At that time the special programmes minister fired a salvo at the politicians agitating for amnesty for the perpetrators of post-election violence to shelve their demands and give the resettlement exercise a chance and spearhead dialogue among the affected communities.
She ruled out amnesty accusing both PNU and ODM politicians of virtually doing nothing in positively dialoguing to help her quest to resolve the IDPs’ woes, but called upon the affected communities to dialogue and come up with a solution that “would facilitate future peaceful coexistence.”
She says that right from the start, there were a lot serious challenges her ministry had to overcome which included hundreds of bogus IDPs flooding into the camps after the government pledged to compensate those whose properties were destroyed during the violence hoping to cash in on the compensations.
“We had to weed them out and it was not easy. Even up to now we have to ensure that they are kept out. These are greedy individuals who are trying to cash in on the pain, suffering and misery of the genuine victims some of whom may take decades to recover from their experiences or never at all,” says the minister.
In virtually all the resettlement exercises, from Central, through Nairobi, Rift Valley, Western and Nyanza provinces, she says she has been present to personally supervise the evacuation and resettlement of the displaced as well as making follow ups of those who declined to go back to their farms from the camps, turned away on arrival, provision of resettlement essentials among other essential needs.
The other challenge the minister faces as the exercise continues is establishing the truth behind accusations that some of the returnees were being dumped on the way before reaching their homes. Left without food or any essentials in the cold by the security and other officials involved in the exercise. Responding to these accusations and taking corrective measures where necessary.
Says Dr. Shabaan: “I am painfully aware that the majority of the people are innocent women and children. I have to source for sufficient funds to ensure that their houses are rebuilt and that they have food and children are going to school, but the funds are very scarce, yet it has to be done.”
Apart from the treasury contributing cash in excess of Kshs 1.5 billion, other leading contributors have been international donor agencies and governments like Japan, the United States, United Kingdom and many locally based corporate and humanitarian organizations.
Dr. Naomi Shabaan revealed that by the end of last month, the government had spent a total of Ksh605 million on IDPs. She noted that the Humanitarian Services Committee has expanded and included ODM members.
While presiding over the evacuation of more than 1500 IDPs who had been camping at Limuru’s Kirathimo camp last month as they boarded vehicles that were to take them back home, almost five months since they were displaced, she assured them of security back home saying their neighbors had agreed to welcome them back and promised that adequate humanitarian relief would continue to be availed to them even after they resettle in their homes. “Food will be supplied after every two weeks to reduce food - related malpractices among resettled persons who opt to sell foods when given in bulk,” she said.
Dr. Shabaan says the government is committed to assist the IDPs rebuild their homes as soon as the one billion shillings set aside for resettlement is released, since the funds would enable the post - election violence victims rebuild their lives after they lost property during the violent chaos.
She says the government established the Advisory on the IDPs Resettlement committee chaired by former cabinet minister Moses Akaranga and spearheaded by retired catholic archbishop Ndingi Mwana A’Nzeki, to oversee the resettlement of the IDP’s, repairing the destroyed public utilities like schools, health institutions as well as the transport and communication system, replace lost and damaged property and provide capital to the resettled persons to start business ventures in an effort to enhance self reliance.
“Since the beginning of The Rudi Nyumbani Operation in which I have been heavily involved, more than 175, 000 people have been resettled, 600 IDP camps closed. Those remaining are minimal and I will ensure everything is done smoothly including the happy co-existence of those who were affected through out the country,” says Dr. Shabaan.
She says that although so much had been achieved, there are still many pending challenges particularly on a wide range of issues that adversely affected women and children and continue to haunt and plague them to date and may continue doing so many years after resettling that must be dealt with.
admin :: Aug.12.2008 ::
Peace Building ::
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