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Kenya ministerial costs soar as riot victims languish
More than 150,000 Kenyans are trapped in tented camps and fear a resurgence of tribal violence while their "unity" government prepares to lavish hundreds of millions of pounds on new ministries.
- By Mike Pflanz
- Published: 00:30 May 2, 2008
Eldoret, Kenya: More than 150,000 Kenyans are trapped in tented camps and fear a resurgence of tribal violence while their "unity" government prepares to lavish hundreds of millions of pounds on new ministries.
According to the finance ministry, the expanded coalition needs an extra £125 million (Dh925 million) a month for nine new departments, in addition to the soaring cost of paying for its 93 ministers and their perks.
The new government is a result of bitterly contested elections in December, which ignited latent tribal tensions, resulting in hundreds of deaths. But its rising costs are causing growing anger among Kenyans who have lost their homes and businesses in the violence.
A third of the money for the government will come from development budgets, including cutting £85 million from the education ministry.
Largest
"They have got everything they wanted," said Mercy Wambui, a 35-year-old mother with seven children living in the country's largest camp in Eldoret, 190 miles northwest of Nairobi.
"But instead of committing themselves to helping us here, they are all jostling for power in Nairobi while we are living in tents filled with jiggers and fleas."'
Close to Eldoret, in the village of Kiambaa where 18 people including 13 children were burned alive in a church on January 2, fields lie abandoned and homesteads stand charred and deserted.
Most of the residents fled to Eldoret as supporters of President Mwai Kibaki clashed with groups loyal to his challenger Raila Odinga, leaving 1,500 people dead.
Now nearly 17,000 people, including 7,000 children aged under five, live on handouts at Eldoret's showground.
Two months after the Kofi Annan-mediated peace deal was signed, they and 130,000 other displaced Kenyans fear they cannot return to their land.
- The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2008
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