More than 2,000 Internally Displaced Persons during the 2007/2008 post election violence held a peaceful demonstration over their delayed resettlement, paralysing transport activities along Nairobi-Nakuru highway on Wednesday.
The demonstration was more concentrated at the Gilgil weighbridge and stretched more than 20km, hindering traffic flow for over three hours.
Their leader Charles Njoroge said the IDPs have been living in abject poverty for eight years, and that the government has not compensated them in any way.
Njoroge said senior government leaders ended a similar protest along Gilgil-Ol Kalou road in November 2015 and promised that their problems would be addressed.
“Since then we have continued to suffer in silence. We decided to march to State House to get assistance from the President,” he said.
Solomon Wachira, an IDP, said all the internally displaced persons were profiled and their details submitted to the government.
“We see our MPs and senators defending the Deputy President over his case at the ICC but the victims have been forgotten,” he said.
Rachel Wambui, who was displaced from Burnt Forest, accused the Jubilee government of carrying out selective compensation. Wambui said most of the IDPs have not been indemnified and asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene.
“Our leaders, some of whom are responsible for our woes, are busy politicking and seeking positions come 2017 as we suffer for their sins,” she said.
After traffic flow was restored, armed officers patrolled the highway while senior government officers went to the area to resolve the impasse.