The Cabinet Secretary for Mining and Blue Economy, Hassan Joho, has ordered developers who have illegally taken over land along the Indian Ocean beaches meant for fish landing sites to vacate willingly or be evicted.
Speaking at the launch of the Ksh256 million construction fish landing site in Kwale, Joho instructed the provisional administrative officers to ensure that any land taken unlawfully is returned to the public.
"Check everywhere to ensure that anyone who took the fishermen's landing site returns it to the rightful owners. Use the power of the government to reclaim and restore what rightfully belongs to the public," Joho speaks to administrative officers.
The Mwaepe Beach Management Unit(BMU) chair, Mwakuzimu Mohammed raised a concern that in Msambweni Sub County, only Msambweni Beach has the title deeds, insisting that the rest of the fish landing sites do not have titles, hence the fish farmers are being harassed.
The fish landing site, funded by the World Bank through the Marine Fisheries and Social Economic Development project, will also include facilities for fish preservation.
Joho commended the Kwale County Government for promoting the blue economy through the provision of modern fishing boats, fishing gear, and accessories, which have significantly boosted the sector.
"Kwale is set to become a major blue economy investment hub and lead in stimulating economic growth in the country," he noted.
He said that what encouraged the national government to invest huge sums of money in projects in Kwale is that it has a peaceful environment.
“There is a deliberate intention by President William Ruto's administration to sort out land tussles in the Coast region, and for this reason, I fully support the Ruto administration,” Joho said.
He announced that the government has allocated fish farmers over Ksh500 million in grants, which will help the community and the farmers.
Msambweni Constituency Member of Parliament Feisal Bader, added that the launched project will aid farmers in the preservation of fish, thus helping in economic growth in Kwale since cold storage and ice plant machines are introduced.
"At the end of this project, the farmers will be able to access the cold storage; this will help in preservation, thus stopping farmers from selling the fish at a lower price to clear out the sale before the fish perishes," Feisal said.
