Kanu has voted down calls for the Government to resettle the victims of tribal clashes.

In a heated and bitter debate, the Government won when the matter was twice put to the vote; firstly through acclamation and then through a physical count 58 -23, with one abstention.

Kanu MPs, particularly from Nandi District, expressed their discomfort with the plan when it was proposed by West Mugirango MP Henry Obwocha.

He listed areas of resettlement for those displaced in the clashes that rocked Rift Valley Province and other parts of the country in 1991 to 1992.

They included Meteitei, Kitochi, Kamalelo, and Simotwo, all in Nandi.

The debate saw MPs attempt to explain what caused the clashes Ð and it saw Cabinet Minister William ole Ntimama defend the Maasai against those tribes that, he said, had invaded their land.

"The Maasai have been subjects of victimisation during colonial days and the two successive post-independence regimes. We were accommodative, but only became enemies with other communities simply because we asked them to quit the water catchment areas in Enoosupukia," Mr Ntimama said.

He claimed the Kenyatta administration had presided over the invasion of Maasai land in Rift Valley Province, and warned MPs that times had changed.

Said Mr Ntimama: "Many invaders came to Maasai land during Kenyatta's time; we had to tell them to move out."

The minister added he had declared an amnesty to non-Maasai in his Narok North constituency.

MP David Murathe (Gatanga) asked: "Who is he to declare an amnesty; is he the Government?" 

Mr Ntimama retorted: "I am speaking as an MP and not a minister. Days are gone when some people thought they were above everybody because they were Kikuyus."

All Kikuyu Opposition MPs then stood in their places; a traditional sign of protest and disgust.

Science and Technology minister Henry Kosgey said most of the areas named in the Motion were in his Tinderet constituency and he appealed to MPs to vote it out.

"This motion is superfluous. It is trying to open up healed wounds," he warned.

He was joined by Tourism, Trade and Industry minister Nicholas Biwott who said the Government, with help from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had started resettling the victims three years ago.

"The mover of this Motion is dwelling on a beaten track," he said.

Health assistant minister James Koskei said, "The UNDP funds were used to settle Kikuyus in the Rift Valley Province," and assistant minister Jesse Maisz added that the motion "aims at settling the Kisiis in the the ancestral land of the Nandi."

Another assistant minister, Mr Kiptum Choge, said the Nandi would not allow the resettlements. 

Seconding the motion, Kimilili MP Mukhisa Kituyi (Ford-K) called for resettling the displaced to bring the matter to rest.

"The gods of ethnic cleansing will have been rewarded unless we reverse the gains to those behind the clashes," he warned.

Muhoroni MP Odongo Omamo (NDP) equated owning land to wielding power, and said the tribal clashes had destabilised people.

Burra MP Mohamed Galgalo (Kanu) opposed the motion, saying it was effectively allowing an internal occupation force.

"This motion is instigating other land clashes; it is very dangerous," he warned."