Hundreds of residents living in Nakuru's Subukia area are yet to receive any compensation six months after the Solai dam tragedy.
Save for the ongoing reconstruction of classrooms at Solai Nyakinyua Primary School, donation of a few tanks to the school and construction of four-roomed houses by a well-wisher through the AIC Church, there is little to be seen on the ground as far as restoration and reconstruction is concerned.
This is despite President Uhuru Kenyatta promising the government's full support in restoring the lives of those affected when he attended a memorial service at the Solai AIC Church.
Speaking on Friday during a service to mark six months since the tragedy, the affected families called on the government to live to its word and resettle them. The survivors also demanded compensation through the Patel family and called for the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure.
The families who spoke about how they have been neglected said it has been months of waiting, with some wondering why those who were living in rental houses have not been profiled for compensation.
“We are just wondering why some of us who had rentals had not been profiled for compensation,” said Mary Wangui.
Members of the affected families who spoke to the media claim that some iron sheets and water tanks donated by well-wishers cannot be accounted for.
They now want local administrators who were directly handling the donations to be held to account.
The survivors, however, noted that they have no bad blood with the Patel family, adding that political brokers who are out to make money from them have been taking advantage of their plight to dupe the Patel family.
They argued that should the Patel family have involved them directly before handing over the compensation cheques to selected people, they would have advised them on how to go about it instead of falling prey to selfish politicians.
Area MCA Dr Peter Mbae called on President Uhuru to personally take charge of the Solai issue and ensure the survivors receive compensation before Christmas.
“We are calling on President Uhuru to take charge of the whole issue,” said Dr Mbae.
On his part, Iregi Mwenja from the Psychiatric Disability Organization (PDO) who has been offering counselling services to the survivors, said that they have managed to reach out to more than 50 families.
He, however, noted that they are yet to reach out to other families who also require the services.
“We still have more people who are traumatised and therefore we appeal to those who were offering counselling services to resume duty,” said Mr Mwenja.
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