- Compensation will commence once the fisher folks provide the bank account details.
- Their lawyers have to execute the consent letter required to be filed in court
Plans for the long-awaited compensation for the affected fishers during the construction of the first three berths of the Port of Lamu have been finalised.
Compensation shall commence once the fisher folks provide the bank account details and their lawyers have executed the consent letter required to be filed in court, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) management says.
The compensation exercise has taken too long to be concluded after the Lamu County Fisher Folks filed in court a petition challenging among other issues, the environmental impact to their fishing sites brought about by the construction of the port, as captured in the government Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for the construction of the first three berths.
Last week, the Lamu Port South Suda Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project chairpersons' committee met and approved the recommendations made by the Fishermen Compensation Task Force earlier this month.
A total of 4, 734 fishers shall be compensated the awarded amount of Sh 1.76 billion ( Sh1, 760, 424,000).
Of this, 65 per cent will be paid directly to the fishers while 35 per cent goes to sustainability projects according to an agreement reached between the fishermen and the government, Lamu County Commissioner Irungu Macharia notes.
“KPA has the money from the National Treasury so there is nothing to worry about. Everything is in place,” Macharia said.
In the meantime, a consent note which has been agreed by all parties shall be filed in court to bring to a close the legal proceedings to hasten the compensation exercise.
The Fishers through the Beach Management Units (Beach Management Units) leadership and the county government has been asked to ensure that they have submitted their correct bank accounts to ease payments of cash compensation.
In the lead-up to the operationalization of the first berth of the Port of Lamu, the need to conclude the compensation before completion and operationalization of the works on the first three berths was prioritized, KPA acting managing director Rashid Salim said.
Accordingly, the task force on fishermen's compensation was reconstituted and facilitated to complete the process of identifying the list of beneficiaries as outlined in the Lamu County report tabled in the High Court.
Kenya Ports Authority as the project proponent facilitated and embarked on a two-week exercise running from April 25 to May 8, 2021, that entailed verifying and validating 4,734 fisher folks who will be compensated as stipulated in the adopted report presented to the court.
Following the meetings in Lamu, the Task Force planned a one-week workshop in Watamu from May 3 to May 7, 2021, to finalise all items needed to progress compensation to the fishers.
The agenda for the Watamu workshop entailed–verification and compilation of the final list of fishers, negotiation on the fishers’ proposed breakdown of compensation items, identification of the entity to undertake compensation, and agreement on a consent note on the compensation of fishermen.
The final list of fishers to receive compensation was arrived at and was signed by the BMU leadership and the Lamu County government.