The Manda airport in Lamu County. Squatters living on a section of the facility have been ordered to leave. [PHOTO: MARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD] Lamu, Kenya: A fresh dispute has emerged in Lamu County between squatters and the Government less than a fortnight before President Uhuru Kenyatta and several leaders from the East African countries converge there for the launch of a major port works. This comes even as National Land Commission (NLC) chairman Dr Muhammad Swazuri has announced that the last 88 land owners displaced by the proposed port project will be paid in the coming days. Dr Swazuri announced in Lamu yesterday that the 88 will share Sh700million in the next three days to complete the full compensation of all families displaced by the project. In the first phase, 148 landowners were paid a cumulative sum of Sh800 million early this year. Several court battles over compensation caused repeated postponement of the ground-breaking ceremony. “In the next three days we will have completed the second phase of the Kililana compensation where we will have paid 88 people a total of Sh700 million,” Dr Swazuri said. Meanwhile, squatters living on a part of Manda Airstrip, which the planes ferrying the presidents will use have now been told they must leave.
Their presence has now been declared a security risk and they have been asked to leave before the May 26, launch of the first three berths of the proposed Lamu port. But the 24 families say they have legal rights on the land they have lived on for more than 50 years, and have also received a court order halting their removal. They say they can only leave if the Government allocates them alternative land before May 26, besides other compensation. See also: Squatters win big as land dispute resolved The Standard on Saturday has established that the Government intends to move the 24 families before the arrival of the presidents, but discussions with the squatters have not been very fruitful.
Because the matter is in court, authorities in the area are in a dilemma on how to throw the families out without causing a scandal that might lead to the cancellation of the May 26, event which has been postponed twice before over court matters and compensation troubles. Reports show that the county and national governments are plotting to entice the families to leave the airstrip with promises of alternative settlement and compensation for houses and farmland. On Thursday, the District Security team, Lamu Governor Issa Timamy, commissioners from the National Lands Commission (NLC) and officials from Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) toured the area in a bid to convince them to relocate ahead of the visit. The Government officials promised the squatters that each family would be given an alternative four acres of land so that they can vacate the airport land, but the squatters declared they will not leave unless the Government settles them on alternative land first ahead of the presidential visit. A squatter Ibrahim Kinyanjui, said the 24 families have lived on the land since 1964 even before the Manda airport was established and that the Government should compensate them for taking their land.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000162378&story_title=squatters-block-lapsset-launch
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