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LAMU THE SINKING PARADISE

By February 22, 2021 28 Comments

Pic 1. Dominic West in a group photo with Save Lamu members

‘‘I have been to most parts of the world but I have never seen a place like Lamu’’ said a prominent actor Dominic West during his visit in Lamu Island, the celebrated actor from the UK met with Save Lamu team and discussed some of the success stories, challenges faced and achievements made by Save Lamu in the recent years.

Lamu gained its heritage status since 2003 by the UNESCO world heritage, after a lot of considerations including indigenous buildings, culture, lifestyle and most importantly, non-polluted area from land to sea. For the longest time Lamu has retained its Swahili houses from since before independence which makes it a world heritage site recognized by UNESCO.

Pic 2. Lamu old town

With the developing projects coming to Lamu like the proposed coal plant and the ongoing LAPSSET project, Save Lamu has however been on the grounds educating the communities about the developments coming to the County.

“We want Lamu to remain unpolluted, just like the way it used to be, our great grandparents maintained the culture, and we want to continue with the legacy, to have a pollution free county” said Mohamed Athman chairman Save Lamu.

Pic 3. Save Lamu office.

Mohamed went ahead and said that Lamu is not against developing projects coming to Lamu, but rather feels concerned about the destruction caused by the project since the dredging of the Sea began, fishermen fishing grounds has been distracted leading to low production of fish, which used to be supplied both locally, nationally and internationally.

“Lamu is on the verge of transforming into an industrial town however, Save Lamu is trying to keep Lamu as it is. And I Dominic has seen an opportunity to save this beautiful unexploited Island I will try my best to leave Lamu as it is” Said Dominic at Save Lamu offices in Lamu, Kenya.

It has been three years down the line since the court ruled that fishermen be compensated with Kshs. 1.76bn for the loss incurred, and with the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopian Transport corridor LAPSSET, set to be launched in March 2021, fishermen in Lamu have demanded compensation before the launching of the Lamu port.

The question here remains, Will the fishermen get compensation?

Story| Save Lamu/Khadija Juma

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