The refinery fit for Lamu is that of 'creative minds' if only we use our heads

The Lamu Port container terminal, quayside and causeway leading to the main port area. [File, Standard]

Good morning, Bwana James Mwangi, the top boss at Equity Bank. I refrain from using the title before your name, “Dr,” because it’s honorary, and so should not be used as a formal title. I know that because I went to school.

But I’m not writing to disrespect a corporate honcho. I know we, watu wa magazeti, thrive in calling out politicians’ lies and hurling insults at them, because we understand society better than they do. We can’t say we understand money-making as well, which is your forte.

Watching you on Tuesday night on Citizen TV articulate your vision of a thriving creative economy—I would have called it blabbering, but I don’t want to sound rude—I said to myself, wait a minute: This guy with very deep pockets is looking for ideas to fund, and I know artists with grand ideas that could transform this country and continent, if only they had the money...

Consequently, please note this is not a business pitch—that will be delivered by a smart young man with a respectable deportment—as my principal role is that of a “broker.” As you must know brokers, are a vital link in the business world. They know people who know people who have goods or services that business folks need.

So, allow me to introduce a young artist called Swaleh Omar Kibalanga, who has been working on a grand idea that could transform the Lamu archipelago by tapping on its cultural and artistic heritage.

We know the island already draws in the visitors due to its rich ancient Swahili culture. It has been a melting pot of cultures going centuries back, which is why it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the first place.

Now, rather than protect this unique heritage and fragile ecosystem, I understand politicians are intent on building an oil refinery there. The monies in question run into trillions of shillings. I hope none of that is coming from your coffers because the idea is completely asinine.

Please forgive my salty vocabulary, but some folks use other body parts to think, not their heads. If Lamu has such a delicate ecosystem, where motoring has been prohibited since the beginning of time, what would the establishment of a refinery do?

Since you are a well-connected individual, tell those folks to take their refinery elsewhere. The last time I checked, it was to be built in the Tz town of Tanga. It turned out even Tanzanians were not aware of it, so someone was possibly “brokering” the Tanga deal. Then I heard it’d be in Mombasa, before it miraculously surfaced in Lamu.

Young Swaleh is full of “smarts.” I know because I have known him for a long time, so you may consider this a character reference. Or, it could that I need him to provide a character reference to confirm this scribe isn’t as rude as he sounds on the page!

So, young Swaleh has great ideas that could pivot Lamu to global prominence. “What if the biggest investment Lamu needs isn’t another industrial project, but a creative one?” Swaleh poses, then proceeds to answer his own question: If he were Aliko Dangote (the wealthy Nigerian who is reportedly behind the Lamu refinery) he would build a “refinery for the creative minds of Lamu.”

And since our nation is full of scavengers, Swaleh’s idea can only be articulated by him, to you. My role here is to alert you to find Swaleh and listen to his idea on Lamu’s artistic transformation. My broker’s fee shall be determined by the value of the deal.

Who knows, if the price is right, I might consider “transferring” to you a qualification that I don’t use, and which would fit neatly if placed before your name. And it’s perfectly legit for use in formal titles, just as you like it!