Proposed Kenya-Qatar Land Deal Stirs Controversy

The Kenyan government is considering leasing a large tract of land in the Tana River Delta in eastern Kenya to Qatar's government. In return, Qatar would build a port in the seaside town of Lamu that supporters of the deal say would provide thousands of jobs and boost tourism. But the proposed deal comes at a time when Kenya is grappling with famine, and critics say Kenya would be better off keeping the land in the hands of small farmers. Cathy Majtenyi visited the Tana River Delta and files this report for VOA.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Tana
• River
• Delta
• Kenyan
• kenya
• qatar
• farmers
• activists
• Lamu
• port
• famine
• voa
• news
• Majtenyi

[nedatronics]

What is "Cutter"?

[ashtonnesmith]

Kenya leaderships lack of foresight is not surprising. Without a stable political system the leadership plans for the next election year only. There is simply not enough time to turn millions of underused land into viable export business.

[jnzioki]

This is land grabbing neo- colonialism, the farmers in lamu can grow the food and sell it to qatar isn't that also a source of entrepreneurship.? this foreign investments just in gap btwn happy few large scale producers and small scale producers who will be further marginalized.