Dr. Fredrick O. Okaka: "Emerging (im)mobility trends along the LAPSSET corridor"

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Speaker 1: On the go sprint lectures on African mobilities podcast by Africa Multiple.

Speaker 2: Good afternoon everyone welcome to this edition of the sprint lecture series. Today we have Doctor Frederick Okoth Lokaka who is going to give us a presentation on the new mobility trends emerging from Kenya as a result of Kenya's Great LAPSSET project. Frederick Lokaka is a lecturer in the department of geography and environmental studies at Moi University. He is a member of the ACC Moi and he is also a collaborating researcher with the project Oil Movements the production and government of petromobilities. Just a little bit about Frederick. Frederick joined Moi before joining Moi University he had lectured at education at the university college of education in Zanzibar and he did his PhD in urban geography at Moi University and did some bit of postdoctoral research at the University of Venda in South Africa. Currently Frederick is based at Moi and is going to be giving us this talk. Frederick I open the floor up for you thank you.

Speaker 1: Well thank you very much Paddy and everyone in attendance. I am going to present preliminary results of the research we are engaged in and the research is touching on oil and governance East Africa and the section I am going to present is in Kenya and touching on two nodes. So first of all I want to introduce you to what LAPSSET is all about. The LAPSSET project in Kenya is a mega infrastructural project which is aimed at linking the Lamu port in the Indian Ocean coast to the oil fields in one of the most marginal areas of Eastern Kenya which is called Turkana and it goes beyond that further to the landlocked countries of Southern Sudan and Ethiopia and the main infrastructural facilities that this project is aiming at developing pipeline oil pipeline railway and highway. So basically the megaproject that is the LAPSSET is a material constituent of the oil industry in Kenya and also the neighbouring region because that was the idea behind this megaproject that with the discovery and of oil within the region there needs to be infrastructure of facilities that can be used to convey this. So it is very pivotal in oil exploitation not only in Kenya but also in the region at large. What we can hypothesize about the LAPSSET project is that the implementation of this project is laying a foundation for new mobility or what we call immobility trends within the area like i.e. new structures of mobility stasis of people ideas practices and things which but which remain unexplored in research. So this paper presents preliminary results of findings on the emerging immobility trends along the LAPSSET project which is a major project corridor within the Eastern Africa but we base our finding on preliminary interviews and research in two nodal points Lodwar which is the geographical focal point of Kenya's oil exploration and Lamu which is actually the exit point of oil and other forms of goods that will be originating from the region. So we attempt to demonstrate how a mega project like the LAPSSET is marked in friction between movement and fixity at times allowing smooth mobility of flow but at the same time creating pauses and immobilities. So the first area that I am going to present are those trends or that are emerging mobility trends emerging from the development of the LAPSSET.

Speaker 1: And as I said, this is closely tied to oil exploitation, and that is why we started our research at the point of oil exploration and at the end where it will be actually transported to the external markets. So one of the emerging trends as a result of the LAPSSET project is there has been faster, easy and longer movement within between the two nodal points, at Lamu and the development of highway from Lamu Garissa to Moyale has made movement very fast and easy. In a particular area that movement was actually very slow and very cumbersome. So this is a new trend, there is easy, faster and longer movement. Business people from example in Lamu can easily move as far away as Moyale at the Ethiopian border. If you go to the other nodal point, for example in Lokichar, movement has been made very easy, such that one of the people we interviewed said that Lokichar was like somewhere very far away from other places in Kenya, but now it is like it is very easy to reach the next points. And when I talked to people in Lamu, most of them indicated that before the Lamu port which is part of the LAPSSET project, most of them were confined to the island where they would fish and go back, but now they are moving more inland because the port is located in Mokowe which is in the mainland, because they are seeking employment, they are seeking opportunities there. So there has been that expanded movement because of the LAPSSET project. And related to this is what I call expanded geographical space. People from different parts of Kenya and East Africa have now moved into the two nodal points, Lokichar and Lamu, to do business, to be employed and to carry out other jobs. And one of the officers at Lokichar that is in Lodwar or Turkana said that the place is no longer Isonyoka, which means clan alone. So it meant that previously the people of Turkana or Lokichar considered that area as made of just one clan, but he told me it is no longer clan alone, no longer Isonyoka. And coupled with the fact that there was the construction of an airstrip in Lokichar to facilitate movement of expatriates in and out, now that area is not only connected to larger cities in Kenya but also to the outside world, which means the geographical space has been expanded and this is a new movement or mobility trend that had never been witnessed. The other thing about mobility trend is undeterred movement. For example, Lokichar which is the point of oil exploitation was a marginalized area that very few people moved in because first of all of the conflict between the nomads, the nomadic pastoralists. But with the infrastructure, the LAPSSET and the oil exploration, the government started bringing in security. And now the trend is such that movement in and out is undeterred because people no longer fear. So this is a new trend that had not been there several years ago. So there is that undeterred movement that has come along because of the infrastructure. Another trend or new mobility practice that has emerged is improved information flow. Several years back, a place like Lamu or Lokichar, we did not have mobile providers providing connectivity and therefore it was like a closed area and the information flow would be very, it could take weeks for some people who had the opportunity to visit these areas, especially in Turkana, they will ask you what is happening in Kenya after several weeks because information flow was like it took several days, weeks and even months. But with the connectivity that is coming as a result of the existence of the mass population and the infrastructure being developed because of the LAPSSET and the oil exploration, then we have improved flow of information and this is a new kind of mobility. We can also pinpoint and present what I call unprecedented linear settlement, especially when you go to the other nodal point, Lamu, because of the government willing to compensate and most of...

Speaker 1: The local communities in the northern corridor are pastoralists and who depend on communal land where we don't have specific demarcation. What has happened is because of anticipation of compensation, they are now trying to create infrastructure along the LAPSSET corridor, which brings about new patterns of settlement and mobility. It's like people are leaving those far-flung areas and try to locate their settlements along the corridor in the belief that finally when compensation takes place, they'll get something. So it's a new pattern of mobility that there is movement towards the corridor or where the infrastructure will pass. We also have mobility in terms of livelihood. Especially when I go back to the oil exploration area Turkana, there is that mobility from cattle economy to money economy because the exploitation of oil has brought about the money economy. In a society where mostly things were transacted in terms of cattle, like you exchange cattle for goods, but now with the infrastructure, the oil and the LAPSSET, there is the flow-in of money and now there is mobility from cattle to money economy. And the other form of mobility and the new mobility trend is, for example, Tullow Oil Company that is doing exploration and exploitation of oil in that area has brought about social investment in terms of education, schools, bursaries. And if you did research several years back, literacy level was a little bit very low because these are communities that were kind of restricted, but now with the opening up of this social infrastructure or investment by the oil company and ILAMO with the Kenya Ports Authority coming into the community to construct schools and provide bursary, there is that although at a lower but there is the mobility from illiteracy to literacy and improvement in terms of school enrolment. One other or another form of mobility trend is displacement. I think this was something I should have started with but I started with the positive. There is displacement in Turkana, the oil exploration area, communities were displaced from their traditional grazing grounds to create room for the oil exploitation sites. And therefore they were moved from their traditional grazing lands and watering points. In Lamu, the fisherfolk were displaced from their traditional fishing area. They indicated that where the port is located was one of their main fishing grounds. So this caused some form of mobility, displacement and in a way it either stopped them from moving or make them move much much more further. Another form of mobility I can say it's cultural mobility and this one I identified in Turkana. In Turkana traditionally the pastoralist men were supposed to be the main providers of livelihood. But with the establishment of the infrastructure, oil exploration company, women started getting employment and they started earning. So there is that displacement of who is the main provider such that women are gradually becoming or moving towards providing for the family. Then we ask ourselves, this infrastructural project, what kind of stasis has it brought about? Although I may have mentioned when I am talking about the trends, one of them is restricted movement. For the traditional Turkana people, community especially elders,

Speaker 1: They cited that their migration routes, traditional migration routes have been blocked and they are no longer able to move in those areas. On the other side, in Lamu, the fishermen said they can no longer access their traditional fishing ground. So this has brought, the big infrastructure had brought some form of stasis. There is no longer that freedom of movement. And that is a form of stasis. Another form of stasis is in terms of livelihood. Especially the youths in Turkana, for example, who were traditionally pastoralists, are now rethinking and thinking about sedentary forms of life, so that they are now going to stay at one point, such that they can be able to gain from the infrastructure, get employment, get income instead of moving with their livestock. So there is that form of stasis. The other form of stasis is those who are educated and maybe gotten some basic education in both nodal points had the tradition of moving to the next urban center or the main city to search for jobs. But with the infrastructure development, building the port along the highway to Moyale, in Lodwar, these school leavers are now settling. They are now trying to settle and get employment within that area because of the opportunities created. So there is that form of reduced mobility by job seekers because of this infrastructure development. And then, next, what are the mobility concerns in our preliminary research? We asked, what are some of the mobility concerns by the affected community? One basic concern, and this one was particularly very prominent in Turkana, is being left behind. There are those who felt that they were going to gain so much from the projects, but they are feeling being left behind. So it is like they are now, the concern is we are being left behind, yet the project was conceived or framed as primarily benefiting the local community. So this is a mobility concern because people are feeling that we are left behind. The other mobility concern is the displacement. That there are people who have been displaced and not compensated, like the fisherfolk in Lamu, the pastoralists in Turkana, et cetera. The other concern arising from movement is the fear of being dominated by outsiders. Because of the attractiveness of the infrastructure, the Lamu port, the oil exploration and the highway, those who are the locals feel that they are being dominated because outsiders who are economically better are coming in and taking up opportunities. So there is that fear of being dominated by outsiders as a mobility concern because that influx of outsiders is building that mobility, that concern that we are being dominated by outsiders. Then there is also line of, the fear that the line of connectivity, the highways, the railways, the pipeline are only going to benefit the economic elites. So the mobility that is created by this infrastructure is to some locals only going to benefit the economic elites. So this is a mobility concern related to the project. Then we also inquired about the social material relations that are emerging out of the new trends. One eminent, and this was specific to some specific groups because this was informal interview, in Turkana there was that feeling that they are now being part of Kenya. They felt that they are not in Kenya, but now with the infrastructure, there is that relationship. They are developing like a new relationship with other Kenyans. We are now being part and parcel of Kenya. And this is a new socio-material relation emerging from the new trends created because of this infrastructure. We also have the close relation to central government and I put it in quotes. The close relation comes in terms of

Speaker 1: The government is now trying to do consultation with communities both in Turkana Lokichar where the oil exploitation the point of origin of the pipeline to Lamu there is that element that the government central government tries to send people their officers to do consultation. So to some it is creating a close relation. So that is a relationship that is emerging although still there are some issues but there is that close relations developing. The other socio-material relation emerging from the new trend is increased reliance on manufactured goods especially in marginal uh within the marginal society in Turkana which majorly relied on exchange of local goods with cattle et cetera but with the coming in of LAPSSET project and oil exploration there is that increased reliance and now there is that relationship between the traditional goods that they rely on and the new products. So there is a new relationship being created in terms of consumption of products. The other socio-material relation that is emerging from this is and I had mentioned it but now I am bringing it as a relationship I am finishing very soon by this shift from cattle to money economy. So there is that increased dependency or relationship between the locals with money rather than the cattle. The cattle was the main and focal point for those pastoralists but now that there is that increased relationship with money. And those are the new trends others are sociocultural like intermarriage and with it comes loose and fragmented social relations because of the movement of people there is intermarriage and among the Turkana or the people of Lamu they were previously closed knit society but there is that loose and fragmented social relations developing and new ways of life and maybe I should point out this in Turkana they never had experienced any form of commercial sex but this is now happening and this is a new form of relation or new form of life that is now emerging. How does this contribute in one minute to the cluster when we talk about multiplicity our project is and will examine multiple interpretation of mobility by the affected community how do they interpret the new trend of mobility. In terms of reflexivity the transdisciplinary approach and we are several of us a geographer somebody from another field will lead to reflexive knowledge generation and finally in terms of rationality our study examines modes and outcomes of relating with relating when people objects and ideas move.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much Frederick for the talk and now without wasting much time I think your talk captures a lot of the micro processes of mobility and immobilities that are taking place in Kenya in different sites like of course the dynamics in Turkana are quite different from the dynamics in Lamu and along the LAPSSET there will come Garissa there is going to come these other different nodal points that you've just mentioned. We have questions already coming in. Johan says thank you for the great talk Frederick I just wonder if the corridor follows older established routes eg colonial roads railways or pre-colonial caravan routes or is it completely a new way?

Speaker 1: Yes the infrastructure will follow all of those because in terms of road the highway will follow the normal roads but the pipeline will follow different it will not be following the colonial or the post-colonial route. But the infrastructure I wish I had posted or projected the route you will see the route for the pipeline and that one for the highway and for the railway. So there are varieties of directions that it will follow.

Speaker 2: Thank you. Much of information is from Stefano Uma who says Asante Fred interesting research and I am an editor of Antipode you might be aware of numerous papers which he posted there I think for everyone to see this is just information that you could use maybe afterwards I think for all of us it's going to be interesting to look at that since we are all doing this infrastructure thing. So the next question Joram says good preliminary insights there are contestations between the county government and the national government on revenue sharing from oil in Turkana that needs to be addressed and this could actually affect mobility.

Speaker 1: Yes, Professor Jeremiah, you are right on point because the first time oil was to be transported from Lokichar, it delayed for more than three weeks because the locals said there can be no movement of oil without them benefiting and that is a form of stasis. I think it's very good, Jeremiah, you have brought that up because that is a form of stasis that they like we have experienced it in West Africa where locals even interfere with the pipeline. This one was transportation through the highway and they blocked the road and that is a form of stasis. Thank you.

Moderator: Stefan Zand is up.

Speaker 2: Yes, thank you Fred. I just have a follow-up question. You mentioned the feeling of some people along the corridor that they don't benefit, that it's a project from up country, from the other part of Kenya. Now did it remain at that very abstract level or did they zoom in and maybe even highlight the ethnic dimensions of those investments because if you look at some of the forces behind these large-scale projects, it is clear that it's related to certain groups in Kenya. Did you find any of those interpretations on the ground?

Speaker 1: Thank you. Actually, it came out, for example, in Lokichar. The people who are dominating the business are people of Somali origin. So to the locals, they are seeing this as something that is benefiting and that is why there is that concern about mobility, that the outsiders are the ones who are going to reap very high. So, and maybe to try to react to this concern, I talked to one of the women leaders and she said they are now forming group because they realize individually they cannot compete to try and win tenders and other things. But that is a serious and major concern in that area. Thank you.

Speaker 2: Thank you.

Moderator: Okay, Grace wonders if there are gender dimensions to some of the trends that you highlighted.

Speaker 1: It's very interesting. Thank you, Grace, for bringing that up. I said that, for example, there is that movement of women from the village into, for example, the oil extraction sites. They are now getting jobs and families are breaking up because let me use the patriarchal society where women depended on men. But now when and within those sites, you don't just arrive today and you leave tomorrow. They can be held there for one month and by the time they come back, the man has married, but the woman now is very independent. There are a lot of gendered perspective and like I mentioned, women groups are now becoming dominant in trying to benefit from the development of this. So we have two ways. One is breakup of families and in terms of gender, women are being empowered, but also it is like I said, it is bringing about the breakup of families. At the same time, the infrastructure, at times women felt that it's not favoring them, that companies normally prefer men because they want men to work into those manual jobs and these had created some element of friction. So there is a lot of those gender aspects coming in. Thank you.

Moderator: Ayana's hand has just come up.

Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Frederik, and sorry for having been late. I find it super, super interesting what you're doing there. And allow me to ask a question out of pure self-interest, so to say, hopefully interest, something of interest to everyone else as well. To what extent do you see different external actors, different investors involved in the LAPSSET Corridor projects? I mean, we know that there's quite a variety. I myself am interested in Chinese projects at the moment, but there's broader variety, Kenyan consortium and everything. So could you tell us a little bit more about whether it matters who the economic actors are and whether there's any difference in how people experience then their interactions with these large scale projects and their new mobilities and immobilities?

Speaker 1: That is a, let me call it a concern. For example, in the oil exploitation zone in Turkana, the Tullow which is mainly France, Canada,

Speaker 1: which is exploiting oil, but the road is being developed by Chinese. Sometimes there is a conflict. The locals feel at times the Chinese are doing much better or rewarding them more when they are developing the roads. And for example pipeline, it has not begun that much, but maybe there will be a different company or country that will win. And you see there is that divided. When you go to Lamu port, the port I think is mainly being developed by Chinese, but road on the other side is being undertaken by a different country. So there is a lot of different feelings towards these different group of people. But in the long run, I think Chinese have always been trying to win over by trying to create some advantage even if they are not doing the main projects. And of course when you look at Tullow because of the different interests, they are the same people who are developing the other part of oil in Uganda. Sometimes they pulled out for almost I think almost a year because they wanted some favors which the government was not giving them. And immediately the tender was going to the Chinese and they came back. So there is a lot of let me call it politics around the whole project. And when you go beyond Kenya, Uganda is trying to win to go on the other side Tanzania. Ethiopia is also developing its own highway and other kind of infrastructure with Eritrea, but still promising Kenya that we are still with you. So there are a lot of politics and a lot of interest. Thank you.

Speaker 2: Yes, Stefan, we have a follow-up question.

Speaker 3: Sorry, it's me again. Just maybe one comment and a brief question. If you could get your hands on, I am not aware of its existence, but anthropological historical studies on the Uganda-Kenya railway when it was built to compare some of the changes that infrastructure induced in terms of the social fabric of the regions where the railway passed would be very interesting to juxtapose these different contexts. And the second one is more a question about your general approach to the research. Kenya has taken up a lot of debt to finance these projects and now it's falling apart somehow and people are discussing it a lot in public. What does this debt situation and the collapsing of the debt pyramid mean for your own project? Is it something you are reflecting or incorporating in any way or is it maybe just beyond the reach of your project?

Speaker 1: Okay, thank you for the question. The LAPSSET project has always been framed as being financed fully by the exchequer. But still there are those hidden aspects because they don't want to indicate that they are borrowing. But LAPSSET within when you question the government officers, they say these are government projects fully financed by the Kenyan government. But they don't want to tell you they are borrowing. So this is a big question because if we are going for this mega project and we are borrowing, when will we get back, when will we repay? But the government will tell you LAPSSET project fully financed by the government. Those are some politics around it.

Speaker 2: Thank you very much Frederick for these very wonderful insights. What I find interesting is that there are these things we call micro-processes which are actually struggles. They struggle to stay, they struggle to change, they struggle to move or not to move are very, very much highlighted by the development of these projects. I think we've come to the end of the lecture series today and I would like to say thank you very much Frederick for giving your time and for giving us such a wonderful talk.

Speaker 1: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 2: This was On the Go: Sprint Lectures on African Mobilities.

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