The Government of President William Ruto has changed its tune on flood victims whose houses were swept away.
This is after it vowed never to compensate some of them despite promising to help them get back on their feet.
Speaking during an interview, Deputy Government Spokesperson Mwanaisha Chidzuga revealed that there were some Kenyans who had illegally changed the course of rivers and erected homes and now are seeking compensation from the government.
This was after the houses were swept away by floods forcing them to evacuate to safer grounds.
According to Chidzuga, Ruto’s administration had set aside a compensation kitty but the individuals who deliberately changed the course of the rivers to erect houses would not benefit.
“There is a compensation whereby we have allocated Ksh39 Billion to deal with floods,” she explained.
The deputy government spokesperson explained that the money would only be available to Kenyans who were conned during the issuance of title deeds.
She explained that there were cases of Kenyans who were holding legitimate land ownership papers but which were obtained fraudulently.
Chidzuga further revealed that that category of affected Kenyans would be given alternative places or resources to settle.
“But there are people who were told to move a river and they did. How do we handle those people?” she posed.
She explained that the individuals knowingly carried soil from other places and filled it on rivers changing their course.
Chidzuga revealed that the individuals then went ahead to build permanent structures on the reclaimed land.
“If you know you diverted a river, just move. We will not give you compensation to buy land in another place,” she stated.
