It was a sensational triumph for the gallant members of the Kenya National Environmental Tribunal as their bold demonstrations successfully managed to quell the construction of a two billion dollar coal plant project in Lamu. Plans were already underway for the Amu Power Company to construct a 1050 Megawatt coal plant in the coastal town, which just so happens to be one of the few remaining World Heritage Sites we have and take deep pride in.

The spirited protests took years of meticulously mobilized local and national support and planning from environmental organizations and conservationists and it has garnered international praise and recognition for its progressive intention of combating the corporate culture that promotes the pollution of the environment through releasing heavy and unregulated carbon emissions into the environment.

In an interviewed statement with one of the activists, they declared that investors and corporates from first world countries usually form partnerships with local elites and government moguls who, at the time, are eager to yield from the collaboration. They, in turn, act against the good faith and interest of the public and proceed with the deals, with little or no consideration of the ripple impacts the businesses will have on the local area.

The need for coal as an energy source in Kenya is implausible given that the country is an industrial leader in clean and renewable energy such as hydroelectric, solar and geothermal energy. A noteworthy regard around this discussion is that the country has the largest wind farm in Africa and with the rampant inclination towards sustainable innovation, there is a myriad of innovative companies such as M-Kopa which has successfully managed to provide solar energy to close to 750,000 households in the East African community. In fact, a staggering 72% of the country uses solar energy as opposed to 10% in the United States and 13% in China.

Amu Power Company is the local body that was in charge of the failed coal project. It had international partners in Chinese banks and construction firms. Initially, much of the local community supported the project in the hopes that it would positively contribute to the improvement of the living standards of the local area by creating jobs and opportunities but a statement from the area residents evidenced that not one person from the area had been employed by the firm.

Furthermore, the community members discovered that they were not involved in how their land was being used. This prompted them to form Save Lamu, which later partnered with Natural Justice of South African descent to mobilize the villagers and the local community in Lamu. Other environmental conscious initiatives such as the 350.org and the Greenpeace Africa joined suit and later they formed deCOALanize Kenya as their thematic campaign (pun intended) which is intended to challenge the establishment of the coal plant and promote a 100% coal-free renewable energy in Kenya. The initiative has been very vocal on social media.

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