President Kibaki and his Cabinet ministers on Monday appeared to set aside the law banning public officers from conducting harambees and gathered to raise Sh457 million for internal refugees.
In a manner reminiscent of former President Daniel arap Moi’s time, Cabinet ministers lined up to hand the President donations from their ministries.
And in less than three hours, the President announced the final figure of Sh457,271,129 raised to help families affected by the post-election violence to resettle. The violence which followed the disputed presidential election, left more than 1,000 people dead and 350,000 displaced.
But the figure was still far short of the Sh30 billion budgeted to help displaced people rebuild their lives.
When he came to power in 2002, President Kibaki and the then Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, went to great lengths to distance the new administration from harambees.
Mr Murungi successfully lobbied for enactment of the Public Officer Ethics Act which, among other things, banned civil servants from presiding over harambees as a way of fighting corruption and looting of State resources.
True to form, President Kibaki even stayed away from a harambee in his Othaya constituency to drive home the point.
The President was at Kenyatta International Conference Centre to launch the funds drive at a function attended by Cabinet ministers, permanent secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps and chief executive officers of various parastatals.
The function brought to mind similar drives conducted by then President Daniel arap Moi in aid of schools, churches or water projects.
President Kibaki pledged a donation of Sh5 million towards the resettlement kitty, insisting that it will be his personal contribution.
The ceremony differed from others as ministers both from ODM and PNU led their assistants and PSs in presenting cheques to the President.
The president then presented the cheques to the chairman of the fund, retired Archbishop Ndingi mwana a’Nzeki. Donors were warned that it was now a criminal offence to issue bouncing cheques.
Public Service
The Ministry of Agriculture led by William Ruto topped the list of donors with Sh298 million, money contributed by members of staff and parastatals under it.
The newly created office of the Prime Minister donated Sh500,000 with a pledge to give more. The cheque was presented to the President by Public Service minister Dalmas Otieno as the PM, Mr Raila Odinga, was in
The Ministry of Energy led by Mr Kiraitu Murungi donated Sh14.8 million.
Other contributors were Ministry of Medical Services( Sh6.6 million), Office of the President (Sh6.3 million) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sh4.6 million.
Ministry of Trade headed by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and the Ministry of Local Government led by Deputy PM Musalia Mudavadi donated Sh1.3 million each.
The government of
Speaking during the launch, President Kibaki urged Kenyans and the international community to help the government bridge the Sh29 billion deficit needed for the resettlement.
It requires Sh30 billion. The money will be used for construction of new houses, replacement of household effects as well as rehabilitation of community utilities and institutions destroyed in the violence.
Already, the Government has donated Sh1 billion to the fund also known as the Humanitarian Fund for Mitigation of Effects and Resettlement of Victims of Post-2007 Election Violence.
He said the resettlement programme must succeed adding that those displaced were mainly smallholder farmers who played a major role in food production.
Food production
There is fear that famine might hit the country as food production is expected to decline in the face of spiralling global prices.
Seated with President Kibaki at the dais was Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, Speaker of the National Assembly Kenneth Marende, Internal Security minister George Saitoti and his Special Programmes counterpart, Dr Naomi Shaaban.
President Kibaki said the resettlement which started with those who were in the camps, will now move to the next phase; address the plight of those who took shelter in homes of friends and relatives after their property were destroyed.
Last week alone, he said 85,000 displaced persons returned to their farms under the Operation Rudi Nyumbani programme. Prof Saitoti said 70,000 people were still in the camps, adding that the task of maintaining them was a major challenge to the Government.
He said the Government will soon convene a meeting with donors and NGOs to seek support for the resettlement.
Prof Saitoti said the provincial administration is compiling a list of all property destroyed during the violence.
He said 32 new police stations and 40 administration police posts had been built in the affected areas to restore security.
Mr Musyoka said though construction of police stations was critical, there was need of encouraging reconciliation among the different communities.
“It is time for proper national healing and reconciliation and we will need more than construction of police stations,” said the VP.
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