Members from the Save Lamu came together with Lamu fishermen to celebrate their victory at the Huduma conference hall after lawyers from the Katiba Institute gave them feedback concerning the LAPSSET case which they recently won at the Malindi High court.
Photo credit: Khadija Juma/Save Lamu
The judgement was ruled out by 5 panel of judges who said to the LAPSSET to give Lamu Fishermen Kshs.1.7bn as compensation for the project
The 2 lawyers from the Katiba Institute Waikwa Wanyoike and Lempaa Suyianka told the community of some of the irregularities found, that was not considered by the LAPSSET which stated that the government did not provide proper study which stated ;
- Violating in providing information to the public
- Failure to participate proper participation
- Luck of involvement of community
- Violation of rights of fishermen
However the lawyers tackling the case are expected back to court on the 1st of November 2018 to get the feedback on whether the budget for of Kshs. 1.7 bn has been set aside to compensate approximately 5000 fishermen in Lamu who are affected by the dredging process on the lapsset corridor.
Save Lamu being the petitioner of this case however was not left behind, Mr Abubakar Mohammed who is the Organizations Chairman said that Save Lamu’s aim is not being against projects coming to Lamu but the right procedures should be followed.
In addition, on the Coal Power Plant project Abubakar said that the community at large is against the coal project saying that it is hazardous to any living species , saying that the amount of toxin that will come from the waste product of the coal plant will affect the sea water hence there will be no fishing activity taking place and thus it will cause financial sustainability to lamu residents since majority of people in the county depend on fishing.
Mohammed Mbwana who is the vice chair Save Lamu points finger at NEMA for issuing licence to LAPSSET despite no proper participation to the public , he however added by saying that Save Lamu and the community of lamu is not opposing the lapsset put insist on the right procedure to be followed.
Fisheries Officer in the Lamu County Government Simon Tole said that Lamu is the County that leads in fishing by 40 thousand tones of fish annually which is equivalent to Kshs. 7.5 bn followed by other Counties in the coastal areas, saying that this will greatly affect the County in a large margin.