Nakuru Deputy Governor Joseph Ruto is calling for sobriety among elected leaders in the county on the discourse on historical land injustices to forestall tribal animosity in the county which has been rocked by land-driven conflicts in recent months.
"As leaders, we need to foster dialogue among communities and help warring parties seek arbitration from relevant state land conflict resolution agencies instead of antagonising communities wrangling over land in the county," said Ruto on Wednesday in Nakuru.
He expressed fear at the manner in which a cross section of the county`s political leadership was charting the conversation of historical land injustices saying it was detrimental to the prevailing peace and integration among communities in the region.
"Progressive dialogue land forums in the county will be essential in the resolution of land conflict in the county. Partisanship on land matters will aggravate the land conflict in the county," Ruto observed.
The DG also called on the National Land Commission and the Judiciary to fast-track determination of long standing land disputes in the county as a way of defusing tension among communities warring over land before the next general election.
He said pockets of land conflicts in the county have escalated into ethnic clashes just months to a general election.
On his part, Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri asked security agencies in the county to tackle fraudsters purporting to be commissioned by the Government to register integrated internally displaced persons in the county.
"Fraudsters operating under cover in Nakuru, Molo and Naivasha have been demanding Sh10,000 to Sh20,000 from the IDPs displaced by the 2007-08 post poll violence with the promise of having their names on a list of persons to be awarded reparations by the government," Ngunjiri said.
He added that the government had no such programme, and those claiming to be acting on its behalf in the fake registration for integrated IDPs should be arrested and charged according to law.
The county has 1,000 households that through a county IDPs caucus billed Nakuru County Forum for internally displaced persons, claim the 1,000 claimants are legitimate and deserve due reparations from the state.
The Ministry of Devolution has since asserted that all legitimate IDPs in the country have been duly resettled or compensated and those claiming otherwise are impostors.
Photo: Deputy county GovernorJoseph Rutto has urged the National Land Commission and the Judiciary to fast track determination of long standing land disputes/Nakuru.go.ke