Officials from Internally Displaced Persons from Migori County have come out to shame conmen who have been swindling people money by disguising themselves as officials from the National IDPs Network.
The County IDP officials said hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons in Kuria have been conned thousands of shillings by people pretending to be undertaking a review of all IDP members.
Peter Mwita Chacha, IDP official from Ntimaru Sub-County said certain people were going around defrauding the Ntimaru IDP residents of their money.
Chacha regretted that the residents were being asked to pay a sum of Sh1, 350 allegedly to be provided with serial numbers which they were supposed to use to access money from the banks sent to them by the government.
“In just a span of two days, they had collected close sum of Sh300, 000 after which the residents reported them to the authorities and they were arrested and taken to Ntimaru police station,” he said.
Nicholas Angwenyi also an official, on behalf of the Ntimaru IDPs network appealed to the national government to intervene and bring a stop to the conmen from robbing innocent Migori residents.
He said he received a phone call informing him that the list of names of IDPs to be compensated by the government has been released and that one had to pay Sh1, 350 to be given a serial number to be used to claim the government funds in the bank.
Angwenyi called upon the government security agents to investigate the matter.
The chairperson of Migori IDPs Nelson Owegi said that in 2017, through the national office in Nakuru, Nyanza people were given a Sh200 million as compensation and since then, many people have come out to form groups and con unsuspecting residents their money.
The officials unanimously disowned a letter reportedly from National IDPs Network signed by one Raphael Eyanai informing Migori County displaced persons Coordinator of their intention to carry review of all registers of IDP members.
They said the letter is misleading and written by conmen to swindle innocent Migori residents their hard earned money.
Ntimaru Deputy County Commissioner Anthony Monari confirmed that two people had been arrested and were helping police in investigation. He however urged the IDPs to work with their known officials and always verify information before paying out any monies to strangers.
by Geoffrey Satia
