Report: Indigenous tribes sidelined in Lamu port project

LAMU COUNTY: A civil society group has claimed that the multi-billion Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) project may lead to injustices to host communities.

A report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) observes that local communities from the Coast such as the Aweer and the fishing tribes are being marginalised in the scramble for Lamu County.

The county has prospects for a port as well as oil and gas deposits.

Separately, residents who own land at the site of the planned location of the new Lamu port have criticised the Government for its sluggish approach towards compensation for their land.

Mohamed Athman, one of those whose land has been earmarked for construction of the port, told The Standard that they were running out patience owing to lack of communication from the Government.

The report is expected to generate heated debate in Lamu, which is facing insecurity and tribal tensions partly attributed to resource-based conflicts.

Following the recent arrest of Governor Issa Timamy, after the mid-June massacre in Mpeketoni, his supporters claimed he is being persecuted by the Jubilee administration for standing up to powerful forces seeking a monopoly of land and gas and petroleum concessions in Lamu, as well as the upcoming Lamu port project.

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

KHRC cautions that development of oil and industrial infrastructure should not be executed in a manner that displaces existing and potential livelihoods but instead urges the Government to complement and boost local capacities for production.

In a position paper titled Forgotten in Scramble and Petition of Lamu: The Case of the Aweer and Fisher-folk, KHRC urges the Government to support host communities towards adapting to new developments without being compelled to abandon old trades.

“They should be encouraged to compete effectively in emerging economic activities,” the report reads in part.

The report, launched in Lamu last week, followed a series of fact-finding missions to Lamu between March 2011 and April this year. It calls for respect for human rights and environmental justice in implementing the multi-billion projects in Lamu.

KHRC Executive Director Atsango Chesoni said it was important to understand whose lives large projects like Lapsset in the country would positively transform because in rural Africa, host communities usually cannot immediately qualify for jobs created by such developments.

ECONOMIC MARGINALISATION

Chesoni said there is need to guard against development projects creating new poverty among host communities instead of lifting the community out of poverty.

The report calls for the protection and promotion of the rights of indigenous communities in light of pressure to modernise, and of the continued vulnerabilities.

“This is what the people of Lamu and particularly the indigenous Aweer fear is going to happen to them,” Ms Chesoni argued, adding: “It is important to note the compensation paid is inadequate to make a fresh start from an empowered position.”