- Community says too many thorny issues unresolved.
- The commissioning of the operations of the first berth set for October 20 on Mashujaa Day. President Uhuru Kenyatta to preside.
The Lamu community pledged on Wednesday to block commissioning of Lamu Port's first berth on Mashujaa Day October 20 unless issues of jobs, training, compensation and relocation are not first addressed.
The Lamu Community Platform platform has issued a two-week ultimatum for all issues to be looked into, otherwise, they will seek a court injunction to block the project.
They told media that the whole project is being pushed too fast while many thorny issues remain unresolved.
The platform includes community-based organisations (CBOs) and activists from the Lamu Council of Elders, Save Lamu, the Lamu Marine Forum, Sauti ya Wanawake wa Lamu, the Shungwaya Indigenous Community Welfare Association and Lamu Youth Alliance, among others.
Commissioning of operations of the first berth in the Sh.2.5 trillion LAPSSET project has been set for Mashujaa Day and President is expected to preside.
LAPSSET stands for Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport.
Speaking at the Tushauriane Hall in Lamu town on Wednesday, platform spokesman Mohamed Abubakar said one of their demands is compensation of 4,000 fishermen whose fishing channels have been closed off due to dredging, leaving them without a livelihood.
Abubaker is also chairman of Save Lamu.
He said 1,000 students from Lamu were supposed to benefit from the LAPSSET Scholarship Programme. All their fees were to be paid so they could study port-related matters and get port jobs in the future. Only 400 have benefitted so far, he said.
Mohamed Athman of the Lamu Marine Forum asked why recruitment of the remaining 600 students in the scholarship program hadn’t taken place in years, though the plan was for it to take place annually.
The community also seeks assurance that at least 25 per cent of the direct and indirect proceeds from the port will remain in Lamu, so both the county and community benefit. They cited the division of oil revenue in Turkana county.
Twenty per cent would go towards development in the county while five per cent will go towards the Lamu Community Trust Fund.
The community has been sidelined in all matters regarding the LAPSSET project, community leaders said.
"Now we hear it will be commissioned in October but not before the President gives us a listening ear. We have so many issues that light must be shed on,” Abubakar said.
The platform is also demanding the formation of a sponsored formal community-driven LAPSSET Steering Committee to safeguard the interests of indigenous communities.
Platform chairperson Sharif Salim, who is also the Lamu Council of Elders chairperson, urged the government to carry out an evaluation of the potential loss of livelihoods and set up mitigation and compensation.
“We want increased affordability, reliability and stability of all community livelihoods that already have been undermined in areas like fisheries, farming and tourism, through economic growth, capacity building and infrastructure development,” Salim said.
The platform also wants compensation and formal relocation of displaced residents at Kililana and Kwasasi whose livelihoods have been disrupted since LAPSSET construction began.
They want the government to ensure Lamu youth get job priority before others are employed at the port.
Lapsset includes a 32-berth port, transportation hubs for rail, highway and international airports in Lamu, Isiolo and Lodwar, an oil pipeline from South Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia to Lamu Port, an oil refinery and three resort cities in Isiolo, Lamu and Turkana.
The first birth is 100 per cent complete; the other two births are 55 per cent complete.
(Edited by V. Graham)