Going by the reception President Kibaki's entourage received in Eldoret on Thursday, it is quite clear the government faces an acid test in reconciling the Kalenjin community to the fact that it intends to resettle IDPs on their farms in North Rift.

A day earlier, an astonishing demand by Kalenjin MPs that the resettlement be halted pending the resolution of a number of other issues they were raising brought the matter to a boil.

From that meeting, the PNU half of the government formed the firm impression that these MPs did not want the IDPs to go home, though the latter deny it. The government has made resettlement its top priority, a fact the Kalenjin group is well aware of. Their demands at the meeting, according to a permanent secretary who was present, were most probably a bargaining ploy.

IDP tragedy

They came with three: that their people arrested in the post-election violence be released unconditionally; that Kalenjins evicted from Mau forest be returned; and that the military operation in Mt Elgon be stopped.

President Kibaki did not acknowledge any of these demands. Nor did he when Mr William Ruto raised them again at the Eldoret rally.

Two Kikuyu MPs from the Rift Valley, Mr Nderitu Muriithi from Laikipia West and Mr Mwangi Kiunjuri from Laikipia East, gave particularly angry speeches. So did Kwanza's Noah Wekesa, whose constituency has a significant caseload of IDPs. Their basic point was that it was immoral to introduce issues unrelated to the IDP tragedy.

Mr Ruto craftily avoided the topic of resettlement and the pre-election violence. He chose instead to dwell on the food crisis facing his ministerial docket. In fact, he revealed that there would be a 30 to 35 per cent drop in crop output in the Rift Valley because farmers now in IDP camps are unable to plant.

Round-the-clock security

If that figure is accurate, it demonstrates the significant role that these farmers, play in overall agricultural production. It also confirms that the displacement of people is playing a major role in the looming food shortages NGOs are warning about.

Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto somewhat ominously told a TV station that it is not possible for the government to guarantee round-the-clock security. That could well be the case, but the curious thing is that none of the Kalenjin MPs, other than opposing immediate resettlement, is coming out in any meaningful way to address the issue of reconciliation.

Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny, an otherwise articulate man, put it later that "we need time to prepare for their (IDP's) return." It's been four months since the evictions, and none of the area MPs has been to any of the camps to hear the laments of the displaced, who also happen to be their constituents.

Noted Laikipia West's Muriithi: "The IDPs are not asking for a favour to be resettled. It is their right. They legally own their land."

In his usual roundabout way, the President, who spoke last at the closed-door pre-tour meeting at Kenyatta International Conference Centre, said it was important for all leaders to support and to acknowledge the resettlement programme. In the end, he told the MPs that the issue was not negotiable and resettlement would go ahead. The Kalenjin MPs did not immediately contest the President's remarks. But they did later at a press conference at Parliament Buildings.

Relocated elsewhere

On Friday, Justice minister Martha Karua joined in to say that despite Mr Ruto's efforts on their behalf, scores of youths arrested in connection with post-election violence would not be given amnesty. Instead, she said, the government would hasten their passage through the judicial system.

Mr Jesse Mwaniki, who chairs a lobby group on behalf of 22 IDP camps in the Rift Valley, says the recent arguments about so-called land issues actually contradict the Kalenjin MPs persistent story that the violence was "spontaneous."

In January a Human Rights Watch report detailed how the attacks in the North Rift were planned. Specific elders were identified as key instigators, something that calls into question the government's plan to involve them as conciliators.

The other contradiction came in Chepalungu MP Ruto's assertion that he and his colleagues wanted the sanctity of title deeds respected in Mau Forest, from which the government has evicted scores of Kalenjin squatters. Yet the problem in the North Rift is that this same sanctity was not respected in the case of IDPs by both those who attacked them and those who later tried to occupy the land.

There is a raging debate among IDPs and other Kenyans generally about whether it is wise to send the IDPs back in those same farms where their security remains in question or whether they should be relocated elsewhere. All along the government has insisted that the resettlement will be back to the IDPs'original farms.

Mrs Rebecca Wambui, a mother of four who was displaced from Timboroa and is now living with relatives in Thika, cannot believe what she has been hearing: "So they want the IDPs to wait in the camps as they debate whether we can go back? For how long; a year, two, five, 10? What will they do in the meantime, set up a commission of inquiry, or call back Kofi Annan to study our land ownership at his leisure?"

Inter-communal hostility

A recent tour of Uasin Gishu district by a Sunday Nation team confirmed inter-communal hostility was still deep-rooted, but as far as government officials were concerned, their mandate was to safeguard people's security and property and thus any attacks on returnees would be treated as purely criminal, they said. The government is putting on a show of might by building more than 30 police posts in the worst-affected areas of the North Rift, but from the look of things, the police presence may be needed for a long time because of the enduring tensions.

The recent accelerated recruitment of National Youth Service graduates into the police force was intended, as the Sunday Nation has been informed, to beef up the Force's numbers because of the heavy deployments needed in the North Rift and other areas where people will be resettled.

Permanent dwellings

At the same time, the government has stockpiled materials for 40,000 brand new temporary shelters (simply called KITS) with which the families set for resettlement will be outfitted, according to government spokesman Alfred Mutua.

Many more will be needed for the 140,000 remaining IDPs, but Special Programmes minister Naomi Shabaan says they will be provided as funds become available. The minister has also promised that the government will mobilise local and international funding to help construct permanent dwellings for the returnees.