We'll provide land for project affected residents— Timamy

@ppcheti

Lamu residents whose land was acquired for the establishment of the county headquarters in Mokowe, Lamu West, should not expect any monetary compensation for the same.

Lamu Governor Issa Timamy said the county will only provide alternative land for those affected and not money as had been widely speculated.

The land which was acquired over 10 years back, houses the Sh284 million county headquarters and the Sh214 million county assembly premises.

Some 54 affected families have been chasing their monetary compensation for the past decade.

Timamy said during his tenure as the first governor of Lamu between 2013 and 2017, he had proposed that compensation for the land be in the form of alternative land in other parts of the county and said he would see to it that it happens.

“This is something we settled on back then that it doesn’t have to be cash. We shall do the compensation in kind by ensuring all the affected are resettled on alternative pieces of land here,” he said.

In 2018, the National Land Commission under the then chairperson Muhammad Swazuri carried out a verification exercise of the affected persons and approved the list of 54 individuals for immediate compensation.

The commission had, however, approved both monetary and alternative land compensation for the affected people and also directed the county government to immediately effect the compensation.

Affected persons however differed sharply with the governor’s plan for land-for-land only compensation and asked him to stick with the original plan which approved both land and cash.

Community youth leader Shali Vavo who is also a claimant in the matter said they will only recognise the initial compensation plan as approved by the NLC.

He said the money was to cater for the various developments that had been on the lands at the time of acquisition among them houses, crops and trees.

“We hope the governor sticks to the original plan as approved by NLC. We shall get the land and we shall equally be paid cash. Reasons for the cash were well captured in the NLC report which included the fact that we had established our lands and we have evidence of that,” Vavo said.

“We had homes and other permanent structures on those lands not to mention crops and trees and the like. If we just get land, that means we have no money to put up new homes,” he said.

According to Said Salim, a senior Community Environmental Legal officer with the Natural Justice, it would be fair for the county government to stick with the compensation package as directed by the NLC, and ensure every claimant is compensated to their last penny.

He accused the county government of delaying the process which has resulted in some of the beneficiaries dying before they received their compensation.

-Edited by SKanyara