A section of Lamu residents on Friday, February 9, held protests demanding justice from the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) for taking over their fishing grounds.
Hundreds of fishermen whose livelihoods have since been affected by the new Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project were protesting over the delayed compensation from the government.
Speaking to the press outside KPA offices in Lamu, the Lamu Beach Management Unit (BMU) Chairman Somo M. Somo gave the authority a strict ultimatum of 14 days to settle their dues.
"We will continue to demonstrate until the Kenya Ports Authority pays our dues. If they fail to do so, we will bring everything to a halt in Lamu. No boats or planes will depart from Lamu, effectively paralyzing the transportation sector,” Somo opened up to the press.
Somo clarified that should KPA fail to comply, they would escalate the protests to major towns and cities like Mombasa and Nairobi until their plea was heard.
However, as he was addressing the press, some decided to express their outrage by slaughtering sheep on the streets.
Others carried placards scribed 'Pay us our money' and others carried tree branches to show their frustrations and loss of faith if they would ever get the money.
Their protest follows a six-year-long wait for funds that were ruled in 2018, by Malindi Law Courts after KPA expanded its ports over the local fishermen fishing grounds.
As such, the court awarded a compensation package of Sh1.76 billion to 4,734 fishermen as the port project violated the community’s cultural rights.
KPA on its part, in a prior agreement agreed to settle the compensation at 65 per cent of the total in cash while 35 per cent was to be in the form of fishing gear.
In its agreement, KPA indicated that the fishermen were to receive the package before the official opening of the port, on May 21, 2021.
However, since then they have not yet received the funds with EACC haunting the move as it probed questions into the compensation list.
