Global Infrastructuring of Labour: Lamu-Port a Success Case?

The paper examines the emerging large-scale infrastructure project, Lamu Port. The port is expected to be a tourism hub and economic zone, creating millions of jobs and addressing marginalisation in the coastal region. In addressing the reconstruction of Lamu County, Kenya’s northern coast, it is hypothesised that the infrastructuring of Lamu has contributed to the reorganisation of the county through labour relations, land use, and increased organised violence—legitimising and monopolising the use of force by the state. Al-Shabaab, a Violent Extremist Organisation (hereafter VEO), takes advantage of Lamu, which is characterised by semi-territoriality—spaces which have limited government control, but the state shifts to legitimise and monopolise control when there is interest, such as the construction of the port; such strong control is hereafter defined as a state territoriality scenario. Sixty-three interviews were conducted with key government representatives, security personnel, civil society, and communities in Lamu, Garissa, and Tana River. The investigation is on how locals are being infrastructured in this ongoing mega-development project and its effect on security. The results show a major facelift in infrastructuring in the coastal region, highlighting how such infrastructuring produces and reproduces the history and future of labour and security in Lamu County, Kenya.