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Kenya: Tana River Flood Victims Oppose Plans to Transfer Them

Published

6 years ago

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Residents of Bura in Tana River County have opposed plans to evacuate them to safety, saying the government had not shown them alternative land on which to settle.

The locals, who have been displaced by floods, said although the idea is well-intentioned, the procedure is cosmetic and will leave them stranded once the calamity is over.

“We have seen what happened to our colleagues in Garsen. They were evicted from a plot of land on which they had been settled for eight months,” said Ms Fatma Hussein.

Ms Hussein said the government was fond of playing with their lives by making tough announcements and warned that the people would not be fooled easily this time round.

The residents also noted that the government had not laid down any strategies for evacuating them and warned that they would resist any attempts to move them.

“If we are to be arrested for fighting to survive, then they had better come for all of us. What we are asking for is a concrete and long-term plan, not mere government public relations,” said Mr Hussein Kore.

In Garsen, the locals have demanded compensation for losses occasioned by the floods.

The locals, who had earlier been settled through a government initiative that saw the Kenya Red Cross Society build houses for them, were forced to move by raging flood waters.

They accused the government of not involving them when deciding on where they could build houses and instead imposing the project on them.