It is one of those rare news stories that does not smell of burning, even though it is about coal. The High Court of Kenya has pulled the plug on the two-billion-dollar project that was to be built in Lamu, the Swahili pearl and UNESCO World Heritage Site, and which promised — in its own way — to light up the country and darken the sea.
After six years of legal documents, hearings, appeals and sighs, Judge Francis Mwangi Njoroge, from Malindi, said what everyone in Lamu already knew: you cannot build a coal-fired power plant in the middle of a tropical paradise and call it “sustainable development”.
Amu Power Company, a joint venture between Centum Investment and Gulf Energy, had defended the project as a gift to the country. But the gift, as is often the case, was one that cannot be returned and already stinks when new. This time, it was fishermen, activists, students and a few old men with faded fez hats who have been watching the sea for generations and know that you don't need a degree to understand when the tide is coming in too fast who made their voices heard.
In his ruling, the judge noted that public participation ‘was not conducted in accordance with the law’. Translated from legalese: no one had actually asked residents what they thought about breathing coal smoke between a dhow and a prayer. The environmental impact report also overlooked minor details such as ash disposal and the effect of climate change.
‘The right to a clean and healthy environment is not a poem written in the Constitution,’ Njoroge warned. ‘It is a promise.’ A promise that, for once, a Kenyan court has decided to keep.
The case was brought by Save Lamu, Natural Justice, Katiba Institute and the DeCOALonize campaign — a small army of activists who, armed with legal codes and African tenacity, cornered the energy giants and their friends in suits.
The ruling confirms the 2019 decision of the Nairobi Environmental Court, when an attempt was already made to bury the project under paper instead of sand. GE, the American energy giant, pulled out in 2020, declaring that it no longer wanted to build coal-fired power plants. A sign that sometimes even giants understand when the party is over.
In Lamu, meanwhile, people breathed a sigh of relief as big as the ocean. Jamil Athman of the Lamu Youth Caucus wrote words of gratitude to the court worthy of a sermon: ‘You have shown that the Kenyan Constitution is not just paper, but a living promise to be defended.’
For once, the law has teamed up with the sea, the mangroves and the corals. It has defended fishermen, families and distracted tourists who are still looking for the Africa of postcards. ‘Justice for Lamu is justice for the planet,’ said Somo M. Somo of Save Lamu, as if the fate of the world depended on a small coral island. Perhaps he is not wrong.
According to environmentalists, the decision will prevent the destruction of coral reefs, fishing grounds and mangrove forests. Above all, it will prevent Lamu from becoming a new smokestack on the sea.
Kenya, after all, does not need coal to feel modern: already today, almost 90% of its energy comes from renewable sources — geothermal, hydroelectric, wind and solar. For once, the country is ahead of its Western models, where smokestacks continue to belch smoke in the name of progress.
And so, in the silence of virtual hearings and real waves, justice has done what is often hoped for and almost never happens: it has stamped the right side of history.
Lamu, the city that smells of spices and has withstood the centuries, will be able to continue telling its legend to travellers, without having to cough up coal between a muezzin and a sunset.