• Former governor says the project has excluded residents of Lamu and their leaders, and those included are not in decision-making positions'.
• He demands a list of squatters set for settlement so they can confirm that non-locals are not listed as beneficiaries.
Lamu leaders want a detailed inventory of staff in the Lapsset project, which is set to begin operations early next month.
Led by former Governor Issa Timamy, they have demanded to know the names, positions and county of origin of all employees.
Residents must benefit, they said, from the Sh2.3 trillion Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport project.
Timamy said the National Cohesion and Integration Commission seeks this information for all parastatals.
Speaking in Lamu, Timamy said they also want an inventory of all the Social Corporate Responsibility activities, if any, undertaken by Lapsset in Lamu county. They want a breakdown of the location, beneficiaries and overall costs of each CSR project.
He said Lapsset, which has its nerve centre in Lamu, started on the wrong foot. He said residents have been fighting to be part of the project without much success.
"We made several proposals to this end, one of which is to have Lamu people or its leadership in the project steering committee but our appeals fell on deaf ears," Timamy said.
The former governor said any project should have the support of residents and benefit the host population.
He said a handful of appointed local individuals are meant to hoodwink residents, adding that they "are not in meaningful decision-making positions".
Lapsset is a huge development project, a gamechanger for Lamu and the entire nation, Timamy said, "but if not properly implemented, it will hurt the people of Lamu".
He said Lamu residents are the most excluded and marginalised from the mainstream socio-economic fabric of Kenya.
Timamy asked the government for the list squatters being developed for settlement so they can ensure that non-locals are not beneficiaries.
Leaders also want all the 1,000 students sponsored by the project to be assured of employment upon completion of their studies.
They demanded compensation for the fishermen who have lost their livelihoods because of Lapsset.
Edited by R.Wamochie