NAIVASHA MP John Mututho wants the electoral commission to be stopped from announcing the election date until the question whether Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta should compensate IDPs is settled. Mututho, in a case filed under certificate of urgency says the rights of the IDPs have been violated and wants Odinga, Uhuru, Lands minister James Orengo, Special Programmes minister Esther Murugi and the State Law Office to be compelled to provide food, shelter, seeds, fertiliser, tools and clothing to the IDPs in Mumoi and Ukingoni area.
He says after the contested 2007 general election the Prime Minister and his party Orange Democratic Movement called for mass action after which at least 1,162 people died and 370,000 displaced in just over a month. According to the MP, those he has sued ought to have intervened and ensured the IDPs’ plights are addressed but they failed to do so.
He also says both Party of National Unity and Orange Democratic Movement should be held liable and he has also sued the two parties. "Since the IDPss are in camps they might not be able to register as voters in places of their choice," he said. Mututho has also sued the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
In his suit papers Mututho says the rights of IDPs have been contravened and continue being abused without due care from all that he has sued. "The condition of the IDPs is deplorable. This has led to deaths of children and women in the camps," he says. "Five years after the violence took place the government through its officers has failed to take any tangible steps to address the issue of IDPs and instead they have decided to play ‘poker’ and politics with their lives," the MP says.
Yesterday Judge Mumbi Ngugi certified the case by Mututho as urgent saying in view of the continuous abuse of IDPs’ rights, the matter should be expeditiously heard. She directed the MP to serve his suit papers on the other parties in the case and come for directions on January 27.
Source- http://www.the-star.co.ke/national/national/58534-mututho-sues-raila-and-uhuru-over-idps-plight
