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{
    "id": 383645,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/383645/?format=api",
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    "content": "Government to profile all the current Internally Displaced Persons and to take urgent and immediate steps towards resettling IDPs and finding a lasting solution to their plight. Madam Temporary Speaker, the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has been with us for many years and is known to all of us. However, we have not taken into account how IDPs are affected as a result of displacement. The country continues to pretend that this not a very major problem. If this matter had been in the eyes and think- tanks of those in Government, it would have been dealt with by now. By now, we should have known the number of IDPs we have in this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, with your permission, I would like to read out how the United Nations (UN) describes an IDP. According to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and the Kampala Convention, IDPs are defined as:- \"Persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular, as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognised State border.” Further, Madam Temporary Speaker, we can also benefit from the Waki definition of IDPs. This is what he says:- “IDPs are those forced to migrate from their natural locations due to clashes. Contrary to refugees, they lack adequate relief support and security and only receive occasional food and blankets from politicians and other well-wishers without any follow up and no resettlement or economic programme to aid them.” Madam Temporary Speaker, this House needs to attempt to bring this matter to an end. How to do this is the big question. This Motion is urging us to profile these groups so that they are known by Kenyans. We need to give Kenyans the statistics on the number of IDPs we have in this country. This Motion will also aid in showing what the Government has so far done to address this issue. This Motion is seeking to compel the Government to do something about the situation. The country is operating as if there are no people who think about the welfare of others. We keep on talking of rising cases of insecurity that have often resulted in investors shying away. In the recent past, there have also been several cases of tribal clashes. Madam Temporary Speaker, we need to understand the source of these problems. Actually, this problem started in 1960 when people were chased away from Lamu County. Again, in 1991, the same issue recurred at a place called Miteitei in Rift Valley Province. This is where tribal clashes started. In 1992, tribal clashes spread to other parts of the country. This was a very serious matter where many people, due to political instigations, left their homes and nobody cared to know where they went to. Where would they have gone? They moved to places in urban centres and by the road sides. The population of such people continued rising. For example, in 1992, if they were 20, by now a child who was born by the roadside is now 21 years. Some of these people end up as criminals. As a result, cases of crimes have risen in the recent past. We, as leaders of The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}