KENYA: Women from Kenya's Rift Valley province protest in Nairobi against insecurity in their home region

Record ID: 362097

  • Title: KENYA: Women from Kenya's Rift Valley province protest in Nairobi against insecurity in their home region
  • Date: 13th November 2008
  • Summary: (AD1) NAIROBI, KENYA (NOVEMBER 12, 2008) (REUTERS) WOMEN STANDING OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT IN PROTEST WOMEN SEATED OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT IN PROTEST MORE OF PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (Swahili) SALOME WAITHERA, PROTESTER, SAYING: "We just want justice. We have a lot of problems. For example, the people I am representing have a lot of trouble in the displaced persons' camps. Most of them c
  • Embargoed: 28th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVA2UEZK2Y0ZGUHGL77XS3P6EKTR
  • Story Text: About 150 women from Kenya's Rift Valley province protested outside Parliament in the capital, Nairobi on Wednesday (November 12) demanding that the government protect them from insecurity in their home area.
    Many of them have been living in camps since post-election conflict earlier this year left 1,300 people dead and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
    The Rift Valley Province, Kenya's bread basket, saw some of the worst fighting during the crisis. Most people took shelter in camps in Eldoret, the main city about 300 kilometres (190 miles) northwest of Nairobi.
    Salome Waithera says she came to protest because she wants the government to help her and the other women in the camps. They are reluctant to leave for fear of reprisal attacks and economic uncertainty.

    "We just want justice. We have a lot of problems. For example, the people I am representing have a lot of trouble in the displaced persons' camps. Most of them cannot even go back to where they used to live. Our food supplies are being stolen and there is nothing we can do about it. There is neither peace nor security where we come from," Waithera told Reuters.
    Through an initiative dubbed "Operation Rudi Nyumbani" which means "return home" in Swahili, the government has closed a majority of the camps that at one point housed about 300,000 people.
    The government does not pay them compensation but provides assistance like seeds and agricultural implements.

    "I think the government is doing nothing about us, because if it were doing something there would be no threats against us. They could have done something to stop the impunity, it seems the government has forgotten its role," said Alice Kamau Waithera, another protester living in a displaced person's camp.
    Joel Njuguna Kamau, a local community leader who accompanied the women to Nairobi for the demonstration, says the living conditions in the camp are poor and people are now getting sick as it's the rainy season.

    "The women decided to come to parliament because any legislation comes from here. They want the government to build them houses. Many of them are suffering from pneumonia because their tents are leaking. This is sad," said Kamau.
    Officials say that "Operation Rudi Nyumbani" has successfully resettled most of the displaced in the Rift Valley and around the country since its inception in May this year.
    However, human rights groups and civil society have accused the government of implementing the initiative too hastily and flouting international standards for resettlement programmes.
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