Women Rights organisations in Lamu have decried increasing gender-based violence in the region following massive job losses occasioned by the new Lamu port.
Thousands of fishermen have been rendered jobless following dredging activities at the port which have in turn caused the closure of many traditional fishing sites in the Indian ocean. This has subsequently rendered the fisher folk without a source of livelihood.
The situation has seen an escalation in domestic fights as women have been forced to become breadwinners for their families as men sit and wait for better days.
Some men have been reported to have fled their homes due to frustrations leaving their wives to fend for the children.
Speaking in Lamu town on Monday, Lamu Women Alliance chairperson Raya Famau said many of the fishermen have turned their frustrations on their wives, beating them at the slightest provocation.
“We never knew how dangerous a jobless man could get until our fishermen here lost jobs due to the port. My office receives overwhelming complaints daily about cases of violence especially women being beaten by their frustrated husbands for no reason. These men have found themselves at a place where they can no longer provide for their families and are venting their anger on the wrong people," Famau said.
She said she would receive less than three cases a week before the port project but now handles between 10 and 15 cases weekly.
Khadija Shebwana of the Voice of Lamu Women said men have become temperamental and unapproachable.
“Homes no longer have peace. Women are suffering brutality at the hands of their husbands yet they are not the cause for whatever befell their men. Children too are suffering and it’s very unfair,” Shebwana said.
She said the Covid-19 pandemic has made a bad situation worse.
She said it had become hard to open, run and maintain a business even as women struggle to fit into the position of breadwinners for their families.
Shebwana urged the county and national governments to intervene and provide women with financial assistance to enable them sustain their families even as their men wait for compensation from the LAPSSET.
“Its especially tough for our women here because, we are normally taught from a young age that only the man should provide. But now we are faced with a situation where our men have lost their livelihood and we must step in. Its tough," Shebwana said.
Following a successful petition, the Malindi High Court in May, 2018 ruled in favour of the fishermen indicating that the project had failed to meet basic constitutional and legal requirements.
As such, the court awarded the fisher folk a compensation of Sh1.76 billion to 4,734 fishermen as the port project violated the local community’s cultural rights.
They were to receive the payout before May 15 to pave way for the opening of the port on May 20.
That has however not happened leaving the fishermen feeling short-changed.
-Edited by SKanyara
