Squatters block Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport launch

The Manda airport in Lamu County. Squatters living on a section of the facility have been ordered to leave. [PHOTO: MARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

Lamu, Kenya: A fresh dispute has emerged in Lamu County between squatters and the Government less than a fortnight before President Uhuru Kenyatta and several leaders from the East African countries converge there for the launch of a major port works.

This comes even as National Land Commission (NLC) chairman Dr Muhammad Swazuri has announced that the last 88 land owners displaced by the proposed port project will be paid in the coming days.

Dr Swazuri announced in Lamu yesterday that the 88 will share Sh700million in the next three days to complete the full compensation of all families displaced by the project. In the first phase, 148 landowners were paid a cumulative sum of Sh800 million early this year. Several court battles over compensation caused repeated postponement of the ground-breaking ceremony.

“In the next three days we will have completed the second phase of the Kililana compensation where we will have paid 88 people a total of Sh700 million,” Dr Swazuri said.

Meanwhile, squatters living on a part of Manda Airstrip, which the planes ferrying the presidents will use have now been told they must leave. Their presence has now been declared a security risk and they have been asked to leave before the May 26, launch of the first three berths of the proposed Lamu port.

But the 24 families say they have legal rights on the land they have lived on for more than 50 years, and have also received a court order halting their removal. They say they can only leave if the Government allocates them alternative land before May 26, besides other compensation.

The Standard on Saturday has established that the Government intends to move the 24 families before the arrival of the presidents, but discussions with the squatters have not been very fruitful.

Because the matter is in court, authorities in the area are in a dilemma on how to throw the families out without causing a scandal that might lead to the cancellation of the May 26, event which has been postponed twice before over court matters and compensation troubles.

Reports show that the county and national governments are plotting to entice the families to leave the airstrip with promises of alternative settlement and compensation for houses and farmland.

On Thursday, the District Security team, Lamu Governor Issa Timamy, commissioners from the National Lands Commission (NLC) and officials from Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) toured the area in a bid to convince them to relocate ahead of the visit.

The Government officials promised the squatters that each family would be given an alternative four acres of land so that they can vacate the airport land, but the squatters declared they will not leave unless the Government settles them on alternative land first ahead of the presidential visit.

A squatter Ibrahim Kinyanjui, said the 24 families have lived on the land since 1964 even before the Manda airport was established and that the Government should compensate them for taking their land.

Timamy said the President will be accompanied by at least seven other African presidents and their air-planes cannot land at the airport in its current state.

The Governor told the squatters that KAA has offered Sh40,000 to each family to help them settle down in alternative land.

“Since the land is owned by Government, the squatters will only be paid for their houses and plantation,” Timammy said.

Timammy further said that surveyors will move to the airstrip next week to start planning and subdividing land on Manda Island where the squatters would be resettled.

Acting Lamu County commissioner Fredrick Ndambuki, urged the squatters to accept the Government offer and relocate so that airport security can be improved to also pave way for the expansion of the airstrip to international standards.

Ndambuki said the Government wants to extend the runway in the airstrip from the current one kilometre to two kilometres so that it can accommodate bigger planes in preparedness for the LAPSSET project.

The Government is believed to have sought dialogue with the squatters as they had early last year, moved to court and secured orders barring the Government from evicting them or embarking on the expansion of the airport.

An evaluation report by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Settlement indicate that 24 families are to be compensated between Sh10,000 and Sh1.4 million depending on the developments on the land.

The launch of the berths have been hit by controversy and has been suspended for more than four times prompting protest from other countries on the LAPPSET corridor over the delays in commencement of the project.

National Lands Commission (NLC) chairman Mohamed Swazuri has asked Kenyans against being duped into buying land in the areas near Lamu port and the site for the proposed construction of the proposed Sh180 billion 980 megawatt coal plant.

Yesterday, Swazuri warned that some businessmen who claim to own land in the two areas are clearing bushes in parts marked for the port and coal projects, and selling them to unsuspecting buyers.

“Some of the land, which people are claiming to be community land has owners who have the legal documents and those who are buying it are doing so at their own risk,” he warned.

According to Swazuri, the declaration that the coal plant would be established at Kwasasi has sparked a new round of speculation and grabbing.

“Since we paid the first phase of the Lamu port land Sh860 million, there has been speculation that people who own land at the Kwasasi area will also be compensated soon, and this has created room for conmen who are luring buyers,” said Swazuri.

Swazuri said the Ministry of Energy has already submitted maps of the land that has been allocated for the coal plant project to his office. He said genuine squatters will soon be compensated before the project.