By Macharia Kamau
Local miners work at Masara gold miners in Suna west Migori County on May 14, 2020 (Caleb Kingwara, Standard)
Death of workers arising from mine operators’ failure to implement
safety standards, unlicensed players – some of them foreigners who sneak
out minerals are among the factors pulling back the mining sector.
This is aided by senior ministry officials who don’t play by the rules
they have set, and demotivated mid-level managers who have been in
acting capacity for six years according to the findings of a study
commissioned by the Mineral Rights Board (MRB).
These actions have seen the country lose billions of shillings.
The board plays an advisory role to Petroleum and Mining Cabinet
Secretary on a range of issues including the issuance of mining
licences, when to suspended a miner’s operations and what minerals
can be declared strategic due to their unique qualities relative to the
needs of the country.
The study unearthed major challenges that may have stagnated the industry, despite its vast potential.
It noted that rogue players are deeply entrenched in the industry, to
the extent that only a handful of companies that operate processing
plants are licensed.
No formal operations
The unlicensed players even lack plans to formalise operations, at least
from the documents that have been lodged with the ministry.
According to the study, the industry’s operations are increasingly
coming under foreign firms with increasing number of Tanzanians and
Chinese nationals operating processing plants in the country illegally.
The rogue players also fail to offer protective gear to their employees
who handle dangerous chemicals. This has led to deaths of many mine
workers while more are left nursing what could be lifelong health
complications.
The report, singling out Migori County, noted that while there are
numerous miners operating gold processing plants, only a handful have
met the necessary legal requirements.
“There are more
60 gold processing plants
(in Migori County) and probably less than five have the required
licences, a situation worsened by many foreigners (Tanzanians, Chinese
among others) who export their final minerals without declaring,” said
the report submitted to MRB.
“No single Artisanal Miners Permit has been issued to date in the whole
republic, hence all artisanal mining activities are not paying revenue
or avoid paying by selling to illegal dealers.
Equally, they do not reveal illegal buyers to continue in
their unscrupulous business. Such illegal dealers then export this gold
through Tanzania or Uganda, denying government sale royalties.”
Despite there being a single artisanal miner licensed, the United
Nations Development Fund estimates that there were about 250,000
artisanal miners in Kenya as of 2017, a figure that has since grown.
Artisanal mining accounts for over 60 per cent of annual gemstone production in Kenya.
The report observes the mines are a hazard for the workers as safety
guidelines by the Mining Act are disregarded. It estimated that about
three people working at the mines die monthly due to use of poisonous
chemicals
“There is a total disregard of health and safety as the casualty
figures among the field workers are on the rise and sanctions are not
applied to erring miners. In Migori for example, an average of three
mine workers die every month as a result of unregulated mining
activities,” said the report.
“This is what has been officially documented thus; the actual casualty
figures could be higher as a result of use of poisonous Cynide and
Mercury.”
The industry’s fortunes have been on the decline in the recent years.
Last year, for instance, total earnings from mineral production declined
by 5.5 per cent from Sh30.8 billion in 2018 to Sh29.1 billion,
according to data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
The report faulted the ministry for the casual manner it has approached
in licensing of miners in the country. Senior ministry officials have
been by-passing the licensing mechanism they have in place and partly
paying a role in derailing the industry.
The ministry has in the past given written or even verbal approvals to
miners instead of using the Mining Cadastre, a Sh600 million system for
licensing and monitoring mining activities.
“There is a breach of the Act as the cadastre system is being by-passed
and applicants transmit their documents physically to the offices. This
unwholesome practice may have resulted to duplications of licenses and
unnecessary interference with the operations of the cadastre system,”
said the report.
Often, the miners have gotten approvals through written replies -
resulting in duplication of licences as similar processes take place on
the cadaster.
The cadastre was developed five years ago to manage the sector - from
application through approval, licensing, renewals and expiration.
While ministry officials could be faulted for not using a system,
the application could also be faulty. The servers are hosted in a
foreign country, threatening the security and safety of Kenya’s mining
data.
It was developed in line with the World Trade Organisation’s
requirements for simplification and harmonisation of international trade
procedures. Besides licensing procedures, the system allows miners
submit export or import documents in a bid to reduce clearing time
significantly.
“This system is actually hosted on a cloud server in South Africa. This
is quite risky as if the information in the system disappear the
Government can be sued and will cause the state of chaos in the
industry. The MRB suspects the cadastre system is faulty and the CS
needs to carry out a system audit on it.”
The board has requested the CS to suspend the operation of the
system due duplication of data and other suspected malpractices.
emacharia@standardmedia.co.ke
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