At the height of the 2022 election campaign, politicians from across the political divide made promises to coastal communities to improve the region's economy.
As representatives of the people, local politicians particularly pushed for the boosting of sectors such as the blue economy, tourism and coconut and cashew value addition.
Politicians in Mombasa also pushed for revenue sharing between the Kenya Ports Authority and the Mombasa County Government so that the city could benefit from hosting the Port of Mombasa, a key national infrastructure.
After coming to power, the Kenya Kwanza government, which had campaigned on regional blueprints, sought to demonstrate its intention to deliver on these promises.
Two years on, stakeholders and intended beneficiaries say it is a mixed bag of fortunes for the Coast under Kenya Kwanza administration.
The government appointed former Kwale governor Salim Mvurya to head the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs. In a Cabinet reshuffle this year, the portfolio was given to a Coast leader, former Mombasa governor Hassan Joho.
Fishermen and other stakeholders in the marine fishing industry who spoke to Nation.Africa painted a bleak picture of the sector and called for more concerted efforts by all relevant institutions to improve livelihoods, especially for artisanal fishermen.
Mohamed Kassim, a fisherman in Shimoni, Kwale County, said they have witnessed a decline in fish over the years.
“You cannot compare the amount of fish that we get today with years ago. Nowadays it is difficult to get more fish. We would previously get over 50 kilos from a fishing expedition in the ocean. Nowadays when a fisherman gets two kilos, they are very lucky,” he said.
He explained that this continues to affect the poverty levels of many families who have long depended on fishing for their livelihoods.
The situation is no different in Lamu County, where Indian Ocean fishing is a mainstay for communities scattered across several islands in the archipelago.
Local fishermen complained that trawlers had been spotted on several occasions operating illegally in Kenyan waters at night.
The fishermen say these trawlers destroy their gear, damage the seabed and coral reefs, and give them an unfair advantage over locals who rely on traditional fishing methods.
“We’ve cried for so long for the government to do something to manage these foreign trawlers. They usually don’t stick to designated areas,” said Mohamed Somo, the chairperson of the Lamu Beach Management Units (BMU) network.
Statistics from the Lamu County Fisheries Development Agency show a decline in fish catches, with the current average catch per boat per day between 20 and 30 kilogrammes for a vessel with a crew of five to fifteen fishermen.
This is in contrast to previous years when the average catch per vessel per day was between 150 and 300 kilogrammes, mostly of finfish.
Lamu County Fisheries Development Agency Chairperson Fuad Sheyumbe said the current situation has forced many to abandon the business.
“The traditional fishing gears used by our local fishermen can’t allow them to fish in the deeper waters. That means only foreign trawlers are the ones getting those fish migrating to the open and deeper seas,” he said.
Mr Sheyumbe also attributed the situation to climate change, saying a change in water temperature has caused fish to move to the deep sea to survive.
Dr Tim McClanahan, a senior conservation zoologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said fish stocks on the South Coast (Kwale County) were declining faster than on the North Coast.
He suggested that the government should plan to allow fishermen to practise deep-sea fishing, but if this happens, fishing areas closer to the coast should be fenced and protected to encourage more fish production.
James Kamula, a climate change expert at the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), says that despite the link between fish catches and climate change, there are many other factors affecting fish catches in Lamu and the Coast region in general.
“Overfishing is the major cause of dwindling catches currently. A lot of investment needs to go to promote sustainable fishing practices. Although climate change is not actually a major cause of reduced fish catch, studies need to be done, as well, to establish the extent to which it’s affecting catch rate,” he said.
Speaking at a recent meeting with stakeholders in Mombasa, CS Joho said the state had invested heavily in technology to monitor its territorial waters.
The CS said concerns about foreign trawlers fishing illegally in Kenya's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Indian Ocean must be officially reported to the authorities.
“We are also working closely with our security agencies, including the Kenya Coast Guard Service, among others, to patrol our waters. We are monitoring our waters using modern technology and patrol boats to nab criminals engaged in such activities,” he said.
In the tourism sector, stakeholders have cited the open skies policy and security as some of the factors that have improved performance.
Those interviewed by Nation.Africa said the sector's performance this year has exceeded their expectations.
They said both the international and local markets have performed very well with hotels fully booked especially during the peak and holiday season.
All destinations in Diani, Watamu, Lamu, Mombasa and Tsavo have been busy with activities throughout the year.
“We are almost going back to the numbers that we had pre-Covid in 2019, and that is very good. Kenya has been on a good trajectory in terms of growth and being busy, and that is a good sign for us,” said Mohamed Hersi, the chairperson of the Diani Hospitality Owners Association (DHOA).
He explained that at the moment, most hotels in Lamu, Taita Taveta, Kilifi, Mombasa and Diani are currently fully booked for December, a sign that this year has been good.
In Coast, Mr Hersi said there were more charter flights from various countries, with the latest being Tui Netherlands, which resumed operations two weeks ago after leaving seven years ago.
He said the players were hopeful that Tui Belgium and many other charter flights would return to Mombasa.
Although there have been successes with the open skies policy, some major airlines such as Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airlines are yet to be allowed to land in the Coast region.
Kenya Coast Tourism Association (KCTA) Chairperson Victor Shitakha said apart from Fly Dubai, other major airlines were still awaiting approval almost three years after they applied.
“We are happy that the Regional Commissioner has said he is going to address this issue of juvenile gangs. The tourists have not yet been affected, but hotel staff are attacked when they leave their jobs very late in the night,” said Mr Shitakha.
Apart from the gangs, the Coast region has generally been calm, with none of the terrorist attacks that have plagued the sector in the past.
To this day, coastal leaders and farmers, especially those from Kilifi County, are still pushing for the revival of the coconut and cashew nut farming sector.
Since the factory collapsed in 1996, it has become a political bargaining chip in every election cycle, with politicians making unfulfilled promises of its revival.
In an attempt to reassure the public of the current government's intention to revive the factory, two cabinet secretaries visited the factory in September last year.
Then Trade CS Moses Kuria and Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi said the government was committed to reviving the factory and increasing cashew and coconut production in the country.
In an earlier interview, Kilifi North MP Owen Baya said returning the factory to the people of Kilifi was the only way to restore the region's lost glory and dignity.
As for the coconut industry, farmers complain of an unstable market in the country, leaving them at the mercy of brokers who mostly export the product.
The lack of adequate local industries to add value to coconut products is also a blow to the farmers.
Mr David Tsui, the chairperson of Rabai Mnazi Network, a lobby group of coconut farmers in Kilifi, said farmers usually hear about Bills being discussed and funds being allocated to revive the coconut and cashew sub-sectors, but nothing happens at the grassroots.
Mr Tsui suggested that the county government should take up its mandate to handle the agriculture sector so that farmers can benefit.
“Some farmers had lost hope, but many are returning to the fields. The county government can step in to revive the palm wine factory project in Rabai and also buy seedlings from farmers for redistribution to support them,” he said.
The push by Mombasa leaders led by Governor Abdulswamad Nassir for the county to benefit financially from Mombasa Port came to fruition in May this year.
This was after the national government allowed the county government to collect parking fees from trucks using the port and garbage collection from all vessels calling at the port.
Under the new payment plan, KPA collects the revenue on behalf of Mombasa County.
However, the garbage collection contract was recently challenged in court.
Mr Bwamwel Obore, an official of the Kenya Ships Contractors Association, complained to the court that the county government had revoked the licence of the association's members to collect waste after the devolved unit started collecting waste management fees from docking at the port.
The county charges $2 (about Sh260) per hundred tonnes based on a ship's gross registered tonnage, with a minimum charge of $200 dollars (about Sh26,000) and a maximum charge of $1,500 dollars (about Sh200,000) for every seven days.
Reports by Kalume Kazungu, Siago Cece, Maureen Ongala, Anthony Kitimo and Valentine Obara
