THE OPPOSED 1050MW PROJECT, RESIDENTS SAY NO TO FOSSIL FUELS

The 1050MW of the coal power plant project, has become the talk of town for the residents in Lamu and Kitui Counties and most of all, gained both local, National and international recognition, hitting headlines from different media stations all over, however the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) issued license to Amu Power, a private public company contracted by the Government of Kenya to construct the first ever coal power plant in Kenya despite stop order from the court.

Save Lamu, has however been doing advocacy meetings in all the villages in Lamu County targeting both the old and young not forgetting women, and people living with disabilities.

Religion is always the core of our lives, and engaging religious leaders in matters to do with community has been one of the major priorities we focus on. On the 7th of July 2018 Save Lamu brought together religious leaders from different parts of the County, to highlight on different issues emerging in their respective areas including the proposed coal power plant project that is set to be constructed in Lamu, and all in one voice wants the government to go green and consider alternative sources of generating power like Wind energy, Solar etc

On the 27th of December 2018, Save Lamu had an interaction session with a number of religious leaders and different stakeholders at the Mwanarafa conference hall in Amu, to give knowledge on the impacts of the proposed coal power plant and some of the sources of generating power that can be used as an alternative.

” Save Lamu is not anti-development, but we want sustainable development in Lamu which will benefit both the government and the locals, but Coal should not be an alternative”, said Abubakar Alamudy, chairperson Save Lamu.

Alamudy went ahead and said that Lamu is a marginalized County, and therefore the investor  should consider other developments like construction of roads which will, attract existence of uncountable investors that will like to invest in Lamu rather than having the fossil fuel project.

” Women in most cases are easily manipulated, therefore it is high time our voices be heard as well” Said Sauda Khassim She recalls on her trip to Zimbabwe where women from different nationalities including Uganda, South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, DRC and Kenya came together to highlight on the issues affecting them in their respective Countries, Coal power plant being the main issue affecting women in Senegal and Kenya where the struggle is still there to stop the idea of having the coal plant constructed.

Among the many Local, National and international Educational tours attended by Save Lamu, is the South Africa exchange visit in Mpumalanga where coal is mined, local exchange visit with the Kitui community, and visiting areas in Kenya where renewable sources of energy are found, including the Geothermal power plant in Naivasha, Wind energy in Kajiado County, Solar energy etc

” I went to Mpumalanga in South Africa and witnessed with my own eyes, a lot of environmental destruction’s, from infertile soil for agricultural activities to the high rate of people infected with Tuberculosis, cancer among many other respiratory diseases ” Said Mohammed Mbwana from Shungwaya welfare association

Mbwana narrates how the waste waters are disposed to the ground, the big scary holes caused by the tremor when mining the coal, he adds by saying that the area is not suitable for human and animal settlement because of the acidity water disposed on the grounds.

” Kenya has different ways of generating power other than the coal power plant” said Khadija Juma From Save Lamu.

Khadija however added by saying that there are Alternative ways of generating power that can be used in Kenya, which includes the geothermal power plant which is a good example of renewable energy, Wind power, Solar energy and Hydroelectric Power which uses water reserved in a resorvour.

Few months ago Tanzania signed an agreement with Misri to construct a 2115MW Hydroelectric Power plant that will use river Rufiji in Tanzania as its main source, Tanzania is going to be the first Country in East Africa to construct a Hydroelectric power plant in its Country.

Tanzania’s energy supply depends mainly on biomass. Since 85-90% of the population are not connected to the electricity grid, As a total, biomass makes up close to 90% of the total primary energy consumption in Tanzania. Other energy sources are petroleum, which makes up 7.8% of total primary energy consumption, natural gas (2.4%), hydropower (1.2%) and coal/peat (0.3%). About 6.6 percent of primary energy needs to be imported, primarily from Uganda (8 MW) and Zambia (5 MW).

The case on the coal power plant is still in court, with the help of Lawyers from Katiba institute and in support of other partners like DeCOALonize, Haki Africa among many others