From: Judy Miriga
WHY it is Important to Secure and Salvage African Communities through Corporate Responsibility Development Plan of Action Agenda and
HOW to Eliminate Intelligent Property Theft and
That Civil Society and Grass-root Cities Management Development is Crucial and Critical
Social Enterprising is an efficient way to build Middle Class economic stability in Africa and effect fast exit resolution to poverty. Social Entrepreneurship business is transparent with no hidden Agenda. The Community has rights to protect their interests and is backed by Law.
In Private Sectors, companies with innovative technology set up industries that which conform to products. The combination of this business structure build-up confidence, create job opportunities and creates wealth to both the middle class and the community based local grass-roots. Focusing on sustainability, career opportunity is in the long run developed and improved. Financial capacity is therefore established to liberate Citizens to Compete in the Global Market Place offering greater turn-over in a transformative fast acting popular manpower.
Kenya’s New Constitution is a built-in Corporate Social Responsibility. Its Legislative Regulative Mechanism MUST ensure business is supported according to Law, according to ethical standards and observing the International norms in addition to environmental Policy factors, the consumers, the employees, the Communities, the Stakeholders and Public Health. In the proactive interests, it encourages Community Progress, Growth and Developmental Sustainability through Corporate Social Responsibility perspective which provides fundamental economic booster to Gross Profit Growth margin and provides a balance to Supply Vs Demands balances. The higher the DEMANDS, the more business supply is generated.
Intelligent Property Theft as seen on private Trade Secrets engagement of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is causing jitteriness in Economic imbalance, is aggravating Public Debt and worsening poverty situation in Kenya. This confidential practice OR behavior is intentional designed to cause economic strangulation to the people of Kenya, giving participating Trading Corporations Private Individuals or businesses a BLANK CHEQUE. Such secrets are enclosed and are extremely guarded amongst the interested parties involved. It confers greater economic benefits and privileges on the holders where they use those exclusive extraordinary financial capabilities income to intimidate and manipulate their political opponents and the Citizens using their position and control in Leadership.
Intelligence Property Theft is a serious criminal offence because it provides for economic strangulation and flight as well as increase poverty margin where many people suffer mental or die from extreme poverty and from lack of basic needs. This State-of-Affair is regarded as a violation of the Statute Embodied in the Kenya’s New Constitution. This is a subject to Legal Liability that Public Properties are improperly acquired, utilized, misappropriated and mismanaged to serve personal interests. The situation which aggravates mental torture, anxiety, lack of basic needs and eventually death of many Kenyan Citizens, in Legal terms is regarded as a criminal offence.
SHOW-CASE
Factors such like taking big Loans from World Bank, IMF, African Bank, Anglo Leasing, Goldenburg, Grand Regency Hotel, Migingo, Lake Victoria, Kwale Tiomin Titanium excavation, Rift Valley Railways etc., that tendered for Government projects but never provided the services or goods tendered. An example of Anglo Leasing where Key Architects like Dr. Meryln Kettering and Mr. Bradley Birkenfeld are yet to be interrogated.
Kenyans are heavily indebted and are paying average of 25,000 per person, a total of 38 billions in TRILLIONS that have gone into private personal pockets. In addition, Kenyans are paying heavy duty taxes in buying daily basic needs such like food, Unga, rent, taxes, fees and bills including high costs of transportation. These unscrupulous leaders earn collection from all money paid in consumables and in services including their monthly salary paid to them. This is why people like Ruto will not bulge when fired, why Kalonzo Musyoka is trading Kenya with China, Uhuru is busy parading between World Bank and Chamber of Commerce, collecting money in the form of Loan by Chinese to Kenya to sponsor Special Interest Republicans to challenge and remove Obama Administration from Leadership. They are promoting China to be a super power so to bring down America. These incalculative acts is playing a dangerous game, giving China a BLANK CHECK in the event, neither Kenya nor America will be safe.
It is now time for pay back and it will not be business as usual.
Thanks,
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
Pls. see Attachments…..
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Kenya pays Sh81m to polish image
By DAVE OPIYO and Agencies dopiyo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, September 25 2010 at 22:00
Lobbyist focus on Security and Trade Ties
The government has spent at least Sh81 million in the past year to spruce up its image in Washington that was badly damaged by the 2007 election-related violence.
According to a report in the American publication The Hill –– the government last year hired Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates (CLS) to handle Kenya’s public relations and the Moffett Group to provide lobbying services.
Part of the lobbying effort has been to show that the country has turned the corner after the violence in which more than 1,000 people were killed.
The PR firm has circulated newspaper clips and press releases trumpeting Kenya’s new Constitution and its cooperation with the International Criminal Court to prosecute those responsible for the violence.
The lobby groups representing Kenya have stressed the needed for the country to “seize the moment” and improve its image in Washington, DC seat of the administration of President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan.
Last year, government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the government wanted to cash in on the Obama presidency to promote trade with the US and attract more tourists.
According to the report, lobbyists for the government have mainly been focusing on strengthening security ties, as well as increasing trade, between the two countries.
They have also been pressing Congress and the Obama administration to pay more attention to the threat from groups in Somalia including al-Shaabab as well as working to secure a direct flight between Atlanta and Nairobi.
Toby Moffett told The Hill said his firm was hired to help CLS because of its experience with US-Africa policy issues.
Lobbyists for Kenya have been in talks with US lawmakers to win approval from the Transportation Security Administration for security clearance for a possible Delta Airlines flight route.
In April, the firm attempted to use humour to illustrate the absurdity of the Tea Party’s Kenya-bashing campaign by organising an event dubbed the “Real Tea Party” aimed at promoting Kenya as the world’s premier tea exporter.
But with the sustained tide of anti-Kenya sentiment from right-leaning Republicans, it seems Elkanah Odembo, Nairobi’s new envoy to Washington, may have to come up with new ways to boost Kenya’s image and benefit from the achievements of Mr Obama, the first black man to win election to the White House.
Company renews hopes of titanium mining at the Coast
Updated 16 hr(s) 49 min(s) ago
By Patrick Beja
The recent entry of an Australian company in Coast Province has elicited excitement over the possible start of titanium mining.
The Base Titanium project, based in Kwale district, replaces Tiomin Resources of Canada and has made its presence in the Maumba and Nguluku designated mining zones felt to the excitement of locals.
Although Coast and other parts of the country have other minerals, the Kwale titanium project is billed as Kenya’s vehicle into the modern mining era.
With reserves estimated at 140 million tonnes in the central and south dunes alone, Kwale is expected to make Kenya a major producer of titanium. Kwale is projected to produce 330,000 tonnes of ilmenite, 75,000 tonnes of rutile, and 40,000 tonnes of zircon per year.
Other substantial titanium deposits at the Coast have been identified at Vipingo, Kilifi and Mambrui.
It is expected that construction of the processing factory could take off from as early as next year.
Kwale District geologist, Fredrick Wafula, is optimistic that titanium mining in Kwale would turn around the region’s economy and employ over 300 people.
Long List
Residents, too, have a long list of expectations from the titanium-mining project.
At Maumba many families, churches and the local primary school were relocated from the designated mining zone about five years ago and those still around expect to be compensated and moved by June next year.
“As youth, we expect the mining project to generate jobs for us,” said Anthony Mulinge.
Mrs Magdalene Maithya expects compensation for her land, other property, and relocation. “Buffalos from the nearby Gogoni forest have invaded Maumba after many families were relocated. Our harvests are low as our crops are being destroyed by buffalos and baboons,” she says.Another villager Mrs Mapenzi Mwangala says she has to escort her three children to Magaoni Primary School because of the danger of roaming buffalos. “We want the project to start so as to create jobs and also minimise the human-wildlife conflict at Maumba,” she said.
Former Maumba Primary School teacher David Mwangangi said there was excitement about the entry of Base Titanium, as it was hoped a new primary school would be built to replace Maumba.
More than 380 pupils were transferred to different schools to pave way for mining activities. GeoIogists are also looking at the possibility of finding gold following some traces at Kuranze, Mwache, and Gulanze.
Sudan at a crossroads; it requires international help like never before
By LAZARUS SUMBEIYWO AND JOHN DANFORTH
Posted Wednesday, September 22 2010 at 18:52
Four months away from a scheduled referendum on self-determination, Sudan, Africa’s largest country, is at a crossroads.
In January, the people of south Sudan will choose whether to stay unified with the north or to create a new country.
This referendum, the cornerstone of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which the two of us helped negotiate, was to be the pinnacle of a six-year process to make Sudan more democratic and peaceful.
Neither the north nor the south have succeeded in “making unity attractive” as it was hoped, and most analysts expect an overwhelming vote in favour of southern secession.
Regardless of the outcome of the vote, the people of south Sudan need to be reassured that their choice will be respected. This ought to be done in two ways.
First, the international Witnesses who backed the CPA and pledged to help implement it, must reaffirm that they will recognise either outcome of a free and fair referendum.
Such a simple step will go a long way toward decreasing tensions and uncertainty in this potentially turbulent period.
Second, Witnesses must redouble their efforts to ensure that the referendum is, indeed, held as planned.
This requires adequate support for the preparations and individual and collective pressure by the Witnesses in both the north and south to prevent delays, clear bottlenecks, and foster a collaborative spirit.
At the same time, increased efforts to prepare for the referendum in the south should not come at the expense of progress in the three transitional areas established by the peace agreement.
The CPA promised the people of two of those areas, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, a democratic process of popular consultations, while residents of a third area, Abyei, were given the right to decide, through a separate referendum, whether to stay in the north or join the south.
Regrettably, preparations for the Abyei referendum remain deadlocked and popular consultations have been postponed. These three areas have received much less attention than the southern referendum.
This is both unfortunate and misguided, as the three areas are a weather-vane of the north-south relationship and retain the explosive potential to derail the entire peace deal.
In addition, following last April’s elections that were characterized by serious allegations of fraud and voter intimidation, upholding the rights of the people in the three areas is one of the few ways to preserve the CPA’s underlying promise of democratic transformation.
Indeed, although the CPA will end in July 2011, the goals of democratization and economic transparency must remain priorities for north and south Sudan and the Witnesses, regardless of the outcome of the referendum.
International leverage is greater in the south, but the north too should be required to respect international human rights and good governance standards, both before and after the referendum. None of this will be easy — or cheap.
The humanitarian and development requirements in Sudan are immense, and donors have often been unable to deliver real long-term impact.
With abysmal human development indicators and appalling lack of capacity in the south, Sudan should be at the top of donor priorities.
According to the UN, virtually all MDGs in south Sudan will not be met — a fact that should come as no surprise given that, per capita, the south has received only a small fraction of the technical assistance provided to Mozambique and Timor Leste.
The Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, which has just ended in New York, and the high-level meeting on Sudan convened by the UN Secretary-General tomorrow, offer an opportunity for CPA Witnesses and key donors to re-engage meaningfully at this critical moment.
They should seize it, specifically through taking urgent steps to safeguard the rights of the people of south Sudan and the three transitional areas to decide freely their own future, to continue the process of democratisation throughout Sudan after the CPA expires, and to provide financial and technical assistance.
Anything less would be short-sighted.
Lt-Gen (rtd) Lazarus Sumbeiywo was chief mediator (2001-2005) in the Sudan peace talks. Mr John Danforth was US special envoy to Sudan (2001-2004).
China-Africa co-operation
Published on
By Beauttah Omanga
Kenya has been nominated to host the next forum on China-Africa co-operation on legal affairs.
The decision was reached at a conference in China where Attorney General Amos Wako and Law Society of Kenya chairman Kenneth Akide represented Kenya.
The delegates agreed the next meeting would be held next year.
The conference resolved to promote co-operation in areas such as mutual legal assistance, arbitration and mediation in settling commercial disputes.
According to a statement, it was also agreed China and the African states build a mechanism for the establishment of a permanent secretariat for the forum.
The choice of Kenya to host the next meeting signifies the country’s increasing international appeal as a destination for conference tourism. But when he died five years ago in a helicopter crash, after only three weeks as Sudan’s First Vice-
President, he died with the drive to link Kenya and South through rail.
With a referendum coming next year, and the likelihood that separatists could win the vote, pressure is
mounting for South Sudan to find an alternative route to the sea.
“We will be landlocked if people vote to secede, leading to possible hostilities with the north before relations normalise,” said Lual.
While a railway line through Lokichogio to Rongai provides the shortest and cheapest link to the port of Mombasa, South Sudan has now abandoned this route due to the shareholder wrangles and flawed business plans of Rift Valley Railways (RVR), the concessionaire operating the Kenya-Uganda Railway.
It was during the time of Transport Minister John Michuki and his PS Gerrishon Ikiara that the process of privatising the Kenya-Uganda railway begun.
Although South Sudan, still involved in war with the North, requested that privatisation of this line be held until Juba is connected, that did not happen as South Africa’s Sheltam suddenly appeared on the scene.
When it became clear that the concession could not be postponed, South Sudan began discussions with officials in the Uganda Government.
With an annual turnover of over 80 billion euros, Thyssan-Krupp’s portfolio will be responsible for the project design and planning, while a Russian firm will execute the actual construction of the rail.
When complete, the South Sudan-Uganda rail will be operated as a public-private-partnership (PPP), with both Uganda and Sudan becoming shareholders together with Ayr Development Group.
Hostile territory
With this railway gateway, South Sudan will ship its voluminous natural resources, without crossing what could be a hostile territory in Khartoum.
“We need the railway and the Mombasa or Lamu sea port to export crude oil. However, the bottlenecks that still exist with RVR must be sorted out fast,” said Lual.
Efforts by South Sudan come at a time the East African region is pushing for huge infrastructure projects.
While the African Development Bank (AfDB) is funding Burundi’s multibillion-dollar infrastructure plan, Kenya is raising funds from the domestic money market through infrastructure bonds, with a huge presence of the World Bank.
Recent discoveries of extensive oil deposits in Uganda and South Sudan have also triggered a huge appetite for large construction multinational firms.
Moribund network
While Kenya is the region’s business capital, it continues to suffer lost economic opportunities and clout with a congested Mombasa Port and a moribund railway network.
Thousands get free health care in ‘floating hospital’
Floating hospital comes to Mombasa
By GITONGA MARETE and MIKE KALAMA
Posted Saturday, October 16 2010 at 20:17
Medical staff aboard the Chinese Navy hospital ship Peace Ark have been treating an average of 700 patients a day since last Thursday.
The crew, which leaves the port of Mombasa tomorrow, has been doing an average of six operations, 80 physical examinations, 110 dental check-ups, 35 CT scans, 200 DR examinations, 240 ultra sound cases and 170 heart check-ups per day.
The medical team also visited the Ziwani School for the deaf, Tom Mboya School for Cerebral Palsy, the Mji wa Salama Children’s home and did physical examination on 243 children, 30 of whom were taken to the ship for further treatment.
When he visited the hospital ship last week at the Mbaraki wharf, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka expressed concern over the rising cases of patients abandoned in hospitals and mothers detained in maternity wards over non-payment of bills.
He termed such incidents as “unpardonable” and said most health institutions in the county need urgent attention.
Mr Musyoka said although the new Constitution guarantees proper medical care for all, “the challenge before us is to translate this promise into reality by working extra hard to grow our economy and generate sufficient wealth and surplus that can support the realisation of a better health care for all Kenyans.”
The Peace Ark hospital has 428 medical and support staff. They include neurologists, surgeons, radiologists, dermatologists, biomedical engineers and psychologists.
Other facilities are a rescue helicopter, 32 medical departments including Chinese herbal medicine, 300 hospital beds and a wide range of diagnostic medical equipment.
The doctors arrived last Wednesday and started offering free treatment on Thursday. The vessel will leave on Monday.
Mr Musyoka noted that being the first visit by the Chinese medical vessel to an African country, the gesture was a clear sign of the long friendship between Kenya and the people of China.
“The relationship has been bolstered by knowledge and cultural exchange through programmes such as the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi and transfer of technology, equipment, modern highways, state-of-the art hospitals, and a host of infrastructural edifices scattered all over Kenya,” he added.
The Head of Peace Ark Mission, Admiral Yu Ping Bao, said the visit was an indication of the cordial relationship between the two countries, adding that the Chinese government would continue supporting Kenya in health care.
Meanwhile, Kenyans can actualise their dream of sailing through the Indian Ocean aboard the first local cruise liner in Mombasa.
The Ocean Mist, a local cruise ship, offers luxurious night cruises to Zanzibar and Pemba islands every weekend.
Ministry ignored all warnings on Tokyo deal: report
By JOHN NGIRACHU
Posted Saturday, October 16 2010 at 22:23
As Kenyans await debate on findings of a House probe into the Tokyo embassy saga, details from the report tabled last week indicate that the ministry bought land to build an embassy against the advice of a lawyer, an architect, a valuer from the Lands ministry and a real estate agent.
The report of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations says the Kenyan government therefore lost about Sh1.1 billion in the controversial project.
The probe, which was triggered by an investigative story first carried by the Sunday Nation several months ago, also uncovered an additional loss of an estimated Sh84 million in the purchase of a building to house Kenya’s embassy in Brussels, Belgium, which was way above the stated market price.
The ministry also included the cost of renovations to the building and furniture that was more than 10 years old, which was deemed valueless as there is no market for secondhand goods in Belgium.
Valuation
In the Tokyo deal, the ministry went ahead to buy the land against a valuation report by Dick Olango, a Kenyan architect based in Japan, an independent valuer and that of the Kenyan Lands ministry.
According to the report now before Parliament, Ms Coral Corporation, the real estate agent, had declined to evaluate the building on the land in Tokyo because it considered it too old.
A valuer from the ministry of Lands, Teresia Kimondiu, had told the Foreign ministry that an access road on the plot and the fact that it did not front the road would reduce the area available for construction.
But the most damning report arose from Kijima International Legal Office in Tokyo, which warned that the price was higher than the true value of the property and the manner of the sale was considered “very unusual” in the normal order of conducting business in Japan.
“Please be kindly informed that the scheme the (Kenyan) government agreed is very unusual, and we could barely see such a transaction in Japan,” said Mr Yoshito Kijima. Mr Kijima described as “fatal” the ministry’s apparent failure to conduct basic research on land values in the area before proposing to buy the land from Nobuo Kuriyama, Taeko Kuriyama and Hideko Kuriyama, its owners.
“It is very difficult for us to understand why the (Kenyan) government wants to take this kind of risk and why they entered the deal without basic research,” writes Mr Kijima. He went on to describe the deal to buy the property as “very irregular” and warned that no expert in Japan would risk involvement in the sale process.
Mr Kijima also questioned the ministry’s move to pay 80 per cent of the money up front, given that historically, it was common to pay 10 to 20 per cent first and the rest after the ownership had changed. The explosive report was the subject of heated debate in Parliament last Thursday.
Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula was spared MPs’ wrath when Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim adjourned House business after a dispute emerged over different Order Papers that afternoon. The committee wants “necessary action” taken against the minister, who it accuses of deliberately misleading it on the key facts of the case.
The minister had earlier told MPs that the ministry got value for money in the Tokyo deal. The report also indicts Permanent Secretary Thuita Mwangi, the deputy head of mission in Tokyo, Allan Mburu, A. M. Muchiri, who was recently posted as Kenya’s ambassador in Tripoli, Libya, and any other official involved in the purchase of properties in Tokyo.
The committee says in its report that the ministry deliberately avoided using a lawyer in the transaction, which the minister said would have cost the ministry Sh45.7 million. The lawyer would easily have worked at a cost of Sh3.4 million, the committee says it found out in Japan.
The minister is also accused of misleading the committee about the shape of the plot, which he claimed was irregular and therefore unsuitable for the construction of a chancery – the building that houses the embassy – and an ambassador’s residence.
“This statement contradicts the report of the architect commissioned by the mission, who advised that the plot offered by the government of Japan allows more floor space, a tall structure is possible which could also cater for other diplomats’ apartment and hence cut the monthly rent,” says the report.
Mr Wetang’ula told the committee that Dennis Awori, the ambassador then, chaired the meeting that decided to purchase the premises at Meguro-Ku, but the envoy told the same committee he had left for Botswana at the time of the meeting.
While testifying before the committee, says the report, the Sirisia MP also stated that the plot offered by the government of Japan had a caveat that allowed the Japanese government to excavate it at any time for archaeological materials.
But information from the embassy showed that the whole of Tokyo is considered an archaeological area, and Algeria, Pakistan and the European Union were constructing related offices in the same area.
Mr Wetang’ula is yet to offer his defence on the report, but Mr Thuita, the PS, said in a statement that the report is aimed at achieving an ulterior motive and does not show clearly how the Sh1.1 billion was lost.
PS’s statement
“Every bit of information in the report is twisted to fit in a premeditated inclination to find fault with the ministry,” said the PS in the statement. Mr Wetang’ula could face the biggest test of his political career if the House Business Committee puts the motion to debate the report on Tuesday’s Order Paper.
It has also emerged that the minister’s move to invite the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the matter could have been a last-ditch effort to extricate himself from the questionable deal.
“It’s possible the minister had seen the committee report and realised he was in trouble… that’s why he was writing to KACC on October 1, days before the committee tabled its report in the House,” said an MP who cannot be quoted without compromising his position on the matter.
It is also noteworthy that KACC had already sent its investigators to Tokyo to investigate the matter soon after news of it broke. Why would the anti-graft agency want to investigate it again? Whatever the outcome in Parliament, the Foreign ministry has been firmly placed in the league of those mired in questionable deals and Mr Wetang’ula and Mr Mwangi put in a tight spot.
China giving Loan to Africa
China aims to boost bank loans to Africa / A recent World Bank study showed that Africa needs $93 billion in annual infrastructure spending, with at least $45 billion relying on external financing./ Rueters
China aims to boost bank loans to Africa
Oct 9 (Reuters) – China, criticised in the West for overlooking human rights abuses in its business dealings with poverty-stricken Africa, will encourage commercial banks to lend more to the continent, a Chinese trade official said on Saturday.
Beijing pledged $10 billion “preferential” loans to Africa in 2009, but Zhong Manying, an official at the Ministry of Commerce, said that was not enough.
“In view of Africa’s demand for funds, the $10 billion is too limited,” Zhong told a news briefing.
A recent World Bank study showed that Africa needs $93 billion in annual infrastructure spending, with at least $45 billion relying on external financing.
Zhong shrugged off talk that increased Chinese loans may actually worsen debt problems.
“What is the most important thing for Africa? Survival and development,” she said.
Chinese banks have already started to pour money into Africa.
Last month, Ghana said it had signed nearly $13 billion worth of loan deals with two Chinese state banks, namely China Development Bank and the China Exim Bank.
A Chinese loan deal to Democratic Republic of Congo was trimmed to $6 billion from $9 billion last year after the IMF raised concerns the contract, which used mineral reserves as a guarantee for infrastructure projects, would plunge the central African country deeper into debt.
For TIMELINE on major deals between China and Africa, please click on.
Chinese investments in Africa hit $32.3 billion by August 2010, spurred by a cooperation model of “resources for projects and credit”, the ministry said in a separate statement.
China’s trade with Africa is expected to top $100 billion in 2010, from $91.1 billion in 2009, according to the ministry.
Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said last month that China takes a different tack on extending aid to developing countries, eschewing tough terms demanded by Western donors.
“Some friends from Western countries ask me why China continues to give foreign assistance to some countries with bad human rights records or problematic political regimes,” Chen said.
“I tell them that the social and cultural systems are different and the development path and political regimes are diversified and there is no one single way.” (Reporting by Zhou Xin and Kevin Yao; editing by Nick Macfie)
Kenya Sitting on Unexplored Wealth Reserves
By Lillian Aluanga
It has been four years since the Justice Samuel Bosire-led commission released its report on the Goldenberg scandal.
At the centre of the scandal on fictitious gold and diamond exports from the country was a previously unknown Asian businessman and dozens of Government officials whose dealings are believed to have eaten into a sizeable chunk of the economy.
While many could easily have laughed off the prospects of such mineral reserves at the time, recent discoveries of commercially viable gold deposits in Migori and Narok counties, coal in Mwingi and possibilities of oil reserves in northern Kenya have elicited excitement.
“The mineral industry is underdeveloped. There has been failure to build capacity around this sector because it has not been considered a priority area for development,” says Daniel Ichangi, a geology lecturer at the University of Nairobi.
The mineral industry is underdeveloped. There has been failure to build capacity around this sector because it has not been considered a priority area for development,” says Daniel Ichangi, a geology lecturer at the University of Nairobi.
According to geologists in Nyanza, gold deposits in Rongo and Nyatike can support large scale mining for up to 15 years. This –– for a country endowed with a variety of mineral resources in almost every region –– could have a huge impact on the economy.
Ichangi, who also chairs the Association of Professional Societies of East Africa, categorises the country’s mineral reserves into four: Metals, industrial minerals and rocks, and gemstones. Oil, gas, coal and groundwater make up the fourth category that is crucial for generating energy.
“Gold has potential in Nyanza and Western regions along the Archaean terrane, which extends into northern Tanzania and South Eastern Uganda. It has also been encountered in some parts of Coast, Pokot and Turkwel,” says Ichangi.
He lists copper, another metal whose reserves are found in Migori County’s Macalder mines. Then there are zinc and lead deposits, which come with traces of silver, occurring in Kinangoni and Vitengeni areas at the Coast.
Iron Existence
Studies have also shown the existence of iron in Eastern parts of the country, while titanium, whose mining has often generated controversy among locals and multinational companies in Kwale, is found at the Coast.
“We can also look for uranium and chromium. Usually, manganese deposits tend to come with iron, and there is also potential for its exploration,” adds Ichangi.
Kenya Chamber of mines Chairman Cedric Simonet says the mineral industry’s contribution to the GDP currently stands at about three per cent, a figure that could be doubled within five to seven years, if a conducive investment environment is created.
“The Government has, since the colonial period, overlooked the potential of the mineral industry as a driver of the country’s economic growth. This is now changing, but there is still significant under investment in this sector, whose relevant laws are obsolete and unfit for both local and foreign investment,” says Simonet.
Kenya’s largest mines are in Magadi, known for its production of soda ash, Kenya Fluorspar in Kerio Valley and the titanium projects in Kwale. Small deposits of gemstones are scattered across rural areas, but the most active gemstone mines are at the Coast.
According to Ichangi, the gemstones category largely comprises rubies, green garnets and sapphire deposits scattered across the Eastern, Coast, and Northeastern regions of the country. While rubies and green garnet occurrences are high in Taita Taveta, sapphire is found in areas around Garbatula, East Isiolo, Mwingi, Kitui and other parts of northern Kenya.
“We haven’t even scratched the surface yet in the discovery of gemstones,” says Ichangi, who points to inadequate expertise in exploration, as one of several reasons for this. Under the industrial minerals and rocks category, limestone deposits at the Coast come in handy for manufacturers of cement, while marble, also used in construction, occurs in eastern parts of the country, Kajiado and Pokot areas.
As Kenya struggles to find her footing in the world of mineral exploration, other countries on the continent have these resources to thank for thriving economies.
“South Africa’s, economy is largely driven by minerals and technology around it. Botswana has a thriving diamond industry. Zimbabwe once had a mature gold industry, while Ghana, popularly referred to as the ‘Gold Coast’ also has potential for oil and gas,” says Ichangi.
South Africa’s wealth is built on its vast mineral resources with nearly 90 per cent of the platinum metals on earth, 80 per cent of manganese reserves and 41 per cent of gold occurrences.
Driven
Closer home Ethiopia is among major producers of oil and gas in the Ogaden region, Tanzania has recently discovered gas, while South Sudan has vast oil reserves. Besides Chad and Nigeria that have oil and gas deposits, Uganda was recently added to the list of oil producing countries, churning
out about two billion barrels of the black gold.
Besides a Mining Act dating back to 1940, faulted for the slow pace of reform in the sector, Simonet points to the need for enhancing research capacity to find more viable mineral deposits in the country.
Simonet says many sections within the Mining Act remain unclear, particularly in relations between land rights and mineral rights, and that an overhaul of the legislation is urgently needed.
“All successful mining countries in Africa have recent legislation (post 1995). A new draft Bill is currently in preparation and is largely satisfactory to the industry, but there are a few critical issues which must be ironed out to avoid unnecessary complications in licensing,” he says.
Kenya invites new bids for cross-country railway
Updated 16 hr(s) 51 min(s) ago
Kenya Railways has invited fresh bids for work on a railway to run between Mombasa and the Ugandan capital Kampala, expected to triple train speeds and increase regional trade.
Kenya Railways said in a newspaper advertisement it had asked for bids for consultancy services for preliminary design and environmental and social assessment services for the section of the railway between Mombasa and Malaba at the Kenyan border.
Kenya Railways cancelled a first bid when expressions of interest came in too high for its budget. It re-advertised but that bid was also cancelled by Government procurement authorities when a losing bidder won an appeal.
The railway , which will run on a standard gauge, is meant to supplement an existing metre-gauge railway that the British built at the turn of the previous century.
The Government says Mombasa’s port handles more than 16 million tonnes of cargo annually, a total which is forecast to jump to 30 million tonnes by 2030.
Most cargo travels from Mombasa by road to Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi.
Earlier in the year, Kenya Railways said its aim was for the railway to be operational within three years
and to carry 10 times as much freight.
Tender documents on the website show consultants are expected to conduct studies on infrastructure design, identify a suitable route for the line and give estimates of market demand and revenue forecasts. Uganda will build its side of the railway.
Charterhouse: CBK directors seek assurance
Published on
By Martin Mutua
Two Central Bank of Kenya directors have sought assurance from the Parliamentary Committee on Finance they would not be breaking the law if they gave information on the closure of Charterhouse Bank.
Director of Banking Supervision Rose Detho and Director of Banking, National Payments systems, External Payments and Reserve Management Gerald Nyaoma briefly appeared before the committee to seek the assurances, yesterday.
Mr Nyaoma, who was the director of banking supervision fours years ago when Charterhouse Bank was closed, expressed fear that the information they hold might contravene the banking confidentiality law.
However, MP Chris Okemo assured them they were within the law and nothing would happen to them.
“You will not be breaking the law because if you read the new Constitution and the Powers and Privileges Act, you will realise that you will not be breaking the law,” he added.
Okemo further informed the two that the committees have the same powers as the High Court according to the new Constitution, and can enforce the attendance of witnesses and examine them on oath and even compel them to produce documents.
Closed Down
Detho had been appointed to run the bank under statutory management, but instead of doing so as
required by the Banking Act, she took over and closed it down.
Former CBK Governor Andrew Mullei, who supervised the closure of Charterhouse Bank, has since snubbed the committee and vowed not to appear before it. The committee has now put Mullei on notice, warning that it would invoke the National Assembly Powers and Privileges Act to compel him to appear before its members.
Okemo yesterday told The Standard they had referred the matter to Parliament’s legal department so that they can advise the committee on how to go about the matter. CBK Governor Njuguna Ndun’gu has also been summoned again.
Juba abandons plan for rail link to Kenya
Published on 12/04/2010
BY JACKSON OKOTH
South Sudan will commence building a modern railway line linking it with east Africa next month after a Kenyan initiative hit a brick-wall.
This railway line is expected to facilitate the movement of goods and people to and from Juba to any part of the wider East African region including Mombasa, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
This new railroad — to be known as the East African Rail (EAR) — will connect Juba in South Sudan to Gulu and Tororo, from where it will join the existing Kenya-Uganda railway.
This is considered the largest project being undertaken by New Sudan Foundation on behalf of the
Government of South Sudan (GOSS).
The decision by South Sudan to construct the $7 billion 750km railway link between Juba and Tororo in Uganda follows delay by the Kenya Government to implement an earlier deal to construct a rail connecting Juba through Lokichogio to the planned Lamu Port.
“We have abandoned plans to build a railway from Juba to Lokichogio through Kenya, hitting the existing network at Rongai,” said Castello Garang Ring Lual, special advisor to South Sudan President Salva Kiir.
South Sudan has also dumped an earlier deal to build a parallel railway line linking it with Lamu.
The first phase of the EAR project will involve rehabilitation of the Tororo-Gulu railway line at a cost of $3 billion.
The second phase will be involve construction of a modern high speed standard gauge line from Gulu in Uganda to Juba at a cost of $4 billion.
The project, aimed at linking Juba, through Nimule, Gulu and Tororo is being financed by the US-based Ayr Development Group. Other partners in the project are the New Sudan Foundation, Thyssan-Krupp — a German steel firm and Mosmetrostroy, a Russian construction company.
Power broker
The late Alex Mureithi — nephew of President Kibaki, fronted the Juba-Lamu rail link project. Mureithi was then a well-connected power broker and political lobbyist.
The idea had first been mooted by the late John Garang, then leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).