By Gakuu Mathenge
NationSeptember 5, 2002
In a stand-off reminiscent of the Kwale titanium mining project, Isiolo's Kinna villagers have been holding up a multi-million-shilling blue sapphire mining plan demanding a share in the benefits. Millions worth of Gemkit Enterprises' heavy-duty machinery and personnel have been idle for the last six months, the Boran community militantly demanding proper compensation as an alternative.
Last week, anti-riot police and the local administration engaged demonstrating villagers in running battles to stop them from storming the mining company's Kinna campsite. However, in what the locals see as betrayal, the Government has declared that the residents are not entitled to any benefits. Mr Arthur Ndegwa, senior mining engineer in the Commissioner of Mines Nairobi office, told Horizon: "This is the law. The minerals belong to the Government, which issues licences to miners, who, in turn, pay royalties to it."
Said Gemkit director Javet Abdul : "These people should know we are not a charity but a commercial private company. Nobody should expect to share benefits from a company he has not invested in. "However, like good corporate citizens we shall be involved in developing schools and other social amenities."
He said his company had invested over Sh234 million in prospecting, geological surveys and mapping of the Duse mines, which covers 123 square kilometres. Said he: "Look, if the mines turn out to be empty, it is we who will lose. The community loses nothing. But we are creating jobs and will assist schools once we start making money."
Through the Northern NGO Forum - a lobby group - the locals say they will not allow any mining to resume at the until a deal is negotiated between the community and the company.
"It is a shame that the Government - through the recent poverty reduction strategy policy paper - rated Isiolo among Kenya's poorest districts and can, at the same time, license exploitation of local natural resources without requiring the profiteers to share benefits with locals," said Forum chairman Doyo, a lawyer. Asked why they were raising the matter only now, Mr Doyo said that, since 1972, the Duse mines belonged to the controversial Pius Kibathi. He had used his influence in the Government to station a General Service Unit camp permanently there to guard the mines.
However, ethnic violence between the Boran and the Somali in the early 90s had made the place so inhospitable even for the GSU, and so the operations had stopped.
He said: "It is only around 1996 that order resumed and locals ventured into the mines. Kinna became a thriving and vibrant trading centre, with Malaysians, Chinese and other Asian businessmen and jewellery dealers coming here to buy the stuff. "Some local traders also took their merchandise to Nairobi jewellery shops that offered good prices. Only then did locals discover what had lain under their feet for centuries. And after tasting it, they are unwilling to let it go."
However, the honeymoon was shortlived. Last year Gemkit Enterprises moved in giant earth movers, set up a campsite and brought engineers and other personnel to seal off the mines it now claims to own. According to local activist Bonaiya Bankarre, Gemkit has hired a local contractor to supply 11,000 fencing poles.
Since then, hostilities between the locals and the company have degenerated to constant riots, forcing the company to hire permanent armed security in the form of local Kenya Police Reservists (KPR), popularly known by the Mau Mau pejorative of "homeguards". Prospection has resumed but keeps being interrupted by constant riots.
Mr Ndegwa confirmed that Mr Kibathi had been the first licence holder for the Duse mines since 1972 but that it had recently been transferred to Gemkit.
Asked whether an Environmental Impact Assessment had been done, Mr Ndegwa alleged that only an environment audit was necessary for ongoing projects. "EIA are only required for a new project. The Duse mines were active by the time the new environment laws came into place and what is now needed is an environmental audit, expected before mining proper begins," he said.
Both Gemkit and Mr Ndegwa denied there has been any displacement of civilians from the mines, insisting that there were no settlements when the mines were discovered and a licence issued. He claimed that compensation for land could occur only when land is occupied by the time a licence is issued but that, in Duse's case, the land was empty. "They should have claimed compensation when the mining started in 1972."
During last week's demos, locals claimed 500 families had been displaced and should be compensated. Determining land ownership and settlements in Isiolo District is complicated as land tenure is still communal and locals are nomadic herders. It is easy to conclude that a particular site is unoccupied or ownerless while, in fact, the owners have just migrated to another place for a season and will then come back. It is defence or violation of communal territories that generates great ethnic conflicts in the entire northern region.
And, while Kinna councillor Hassan Galgalo told the demonstrators that the Isiolo County Council knew nothing of the mines, Gemkit says its trading licence, issued by the Isiolo civic body, has been paid for since 1972 and that it has no arrears.
Unable to solve the protracted dispute, and apparently tired of fighting recurrent cycles of rioting, District Officer Aloise Rono challenged Forum to go to court and argue their case there, instead of inciting people against a licensed investment.
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