Lake Turkana Wind Power project (LTWP) recently earned over Sh11 billion for selling electricity to Kenya Power Plc.
Despite the rosy picture, the atrocities of the past few years committed by the contractor of the project are still rife. Members of a community in Marsabit still cry foul.
It is reported that LTWP representatives approached the then Marsabit Municipal Council seeking 40,000 acres of land for the project.
They further went ahead and requested for an additional 110,000 acres while claiming that it was for future development. At that time the land was demarcated as community land which by law required the community to be informed of the project right from the beginning.
The trust land Act was not adhered to.
A divisional lands board was never made available to consult with the community as per the law. Marsabit County Council town planning approved leasing of 150,000 acres to LTWP irregularly.
“Our ancestral land was alienated unprocedurally and without consent. LTWP has taken away our lifestyle, culture, heritage, identity and livelihood and left us destitute”, complained a resident
The residents further wondered why President Uhuru Kenyatta was so quick to commission the project whose grievances he knows and are grave.
“Why is the head of state, a figure that is the symbol of our national unity, a leader we gravely look up to in protecting the rights of these minority, marginalized and indigenous communities so indifferent? Who is this private investor, so greater than Elmosaretu who can claim ownership of such a huge piece of land?”, they asked in 2019 before the commissioning happened.
“It seems LTWP has bribed all the right people in order to get away with such grievous things”.
LTWP is accused of stealing ancestral land, in a place called Sarima in Loiyangalani Marsabit County so as to tap the wind power.
The community went to court, and a 3 judge bench was formed to hear the case at the Supreme Court.
Nonetheless, the president rushed to commission the project. The community is crying for justice.
Kenyan Business Feed is the top Kenyan Business Blog. We share news from Kenya and across the region. To contact us with any alert, please email us to [email protected]