Plans for the long-awaited compensation for the fishers affected during the construction of the first berth of the Port of Lamu have been finalized and compensation shall commence soon, this is according to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA)
According to a statement from KPA, the LAPSETT Chairpersons committee met this week and approved the recommendations made by the Fishermen Compensation Task Force earlier on this month. A total of 4734 fishersshall be compensated.
"In the meantime,a consent note which has been agreed by all parties shall be filed in court to bring to a close the legal proceedings to hasten the compensation exercise." reads part of the statement.
Adding "The fishers through the Beach Management Units(Beach Management Units) leadership and the County government have been asked to ensure that they have submitted their correct bank accounts to ease payments of cash compensation."
In the lead up to the operationalization of the first berth of the port of Lamu, the need to conclude the compensation before completion and operationalisation of the works on the first three berths was prioritized.
Accordingly, the task force on fishermen compensation task force was reconstituted and facilitated to complete the process of identifying the list of 4734 beneficiaries as outlined in the Lamu County report tabled in the High Court.
Kenya Ports Authority as the project proponent facilitated and embarked on a two-week exercise running from 25th April to 8th May 2021 that entailed verifying and validating 4,734 fisher folks who will be compensated as stipulated in the adopted report presented to the court.
Following the meetings in Lamu, the Task Force planned a one-week workshop in Watamu from 3rd May to 7th May 2021 to finalize on all items needed to progress compensation to the fishers.
The Agenda for the Watamu workshop entailed Verification and Compilation of the final list of fishers for compensation, negotiation on the fishers’ proposed breakdown of compensation items, identification of the entity to undertake compensation, and agreement on a consent note on compensation of fishermen.
At the end of the verification process, the final list of 4734 fishers to receive compensation was arrived at and was signed by the BMU leadership and the Lamu County government.
In may 2021, hundreds of fishermen took to the streets of Lamu to protest delayed compensation from the government, following a successful petition at the Malindi High Court in May, 2018 which ruled in favour of the fishermen indicating that the project had failed to meet basic constitutional and legal requirements.
The fishermen were to start receiving the monies before May 15.
