Kwasasi Farmers Demand NLC Intervention for losing 70,000 acres to LAPSSET

By The COAST Reporter

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

Some 6,000 Kwasasi farmers have called on the National Land Commission to intervene in resolving the loss of 70,000 acres of its land to the LAPSSET project.

According to Kwasasi Farmers Association official Hussein Mirji its members are worried that despite an agreement with the LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority that only 300 acres will be hived from its land 70,000 acres was secretly titled to the LAPSSET project.

He noted that despite assurances that those who lost their land to the LAPSSET project for which the Chinese Communication Construction Company has already built the Lamu Port and was currently undertaking the construction of the 250 kilometer road.

“Part of where the Lamu-Garissa road is being built has been hived off from the Kwasasi area without proper consultation from the communities affected and thus a need for all parties both from the national and county government to get involved and resolve the land grab that the Kwasasi farmers have undergone,” he said.

The same sentiments were echoed by Save Lamu secretary general Mohammed Athman who lamented over the continued marginalization and disenfranchising of minority communities within the county.

He said Save Lamu in conjunction with the Kwasasi Farmers Association would be collaborating in forcing the national government to compensate those affected by the ongoing expansion of the Camp Simba American military base which had encroached into the Kwasasi farmers land.

“There needs to be an urgent sitdown between the affected parties especially now that the Kwasasi land apart from being taken over by LAPSSET is also now being taken over by military installations at the expense of the true land owners,” Muhsin Mohammed, a Kwasasi farmer said.

She added that the ongoing encroachment was being done under the guise of national development and urged for fairness to take precedence.

LCDA CEO Simon Ikua, on his part, told the media via a telephone interview that the national government remained keen on ensuring that those affected by the LAPSSET project would in due time be compensated.

“The NLC are fully behind the process of compensating the affected farmers despite the delays in addressing the matter, however genuine land owners need to be established first and foremost and not merely squatters trying to force their way to compensation,” he added.