The challenge in Lamu is more than law and order

In the wake of talk of a major infrastructure investment, locals have only witnessed the proliferation of perfidious land acquisition by upcountry people and inadequate dialogue about the future role of locals in any new ventures from their home town.

This is seen as having compounded the general sense of neglect that has seen a people that have the longest history of literacy in Kenya left behind by newer appetites for education.

For a people who have traditionally been more laid-back and accommodative of other impulses, the Bajuni and other indigenous locals have projected a genteel demeanour that has been mistaken for acceptance of less than other citizens in earthly pickings.

Yet their sense of alienation continues to deepen even as we look to their natural port as the next big thing in achieving Vision 2030.

Circumstances such as these breed both disillusion particularly among the old, and militancy among the youth.

Such a setting can easily create sleepers who in the quest for modest reward can serve the interests of pirates turned on a vulnerable front of extortion.

While this in no way takes anything from the need for firm action against the criminals who threaten a crippling blow to the resurgent tourist industry, it only helps to point out a crucial fact.

A people who feel alienated cannot be corrected by a force of arms. That the production line for the “sleepers” aiding criminal types from Somalia will continue to supply more candidates unless the government shows adequate determination to address the injustice that has made Lamu look at Nairobi as a distant seat of power only engaging them when the interests of another people’s economy are under threat.