Writes Leo Odera Omolo In MigoriTown.

MEMBERS of the Parliamentary Committee on Land and Natural Resources led by their chairman Matava Musyimi made extensive tour of the mineral rich Nyatike constituency in Migori County to assess for them the situation on the ground.

They were accompanied by the abrasive Nyatike MP Edick Omondi Anyangawho in the recent past has incessantly bitterly complained about what he terms as “grace exploitation” of local gold diggers by foreign and local investors who makes millions in profits, but only paying peanuts to the local people engaged only on manual work of digging and exacerbating for the precious stone.

The purpose of the visit by the committee is to institute proper regulation to govern mining of gold and copper in the area.

During a public meeting and exchange of views held at Macalder, the residents told the MPs that lack of proper legal framework has negated the economic benefits the residents would enjoy from the mining industry in the area.

The residents bitterly complained that the miners do not understand how the companies were going about their businesses and appealed for proper sensitization of the local community.

They said they have no problems with mining firms operating in the area, but they want the government to come up with laws “so that things are put straight “ their spokesman Ouma Nyakiya told the Committee members.

There has been discontentment by the local communities over what they called naked exploitation by multinational and local companies prospecting for the gold in the region. This prompted the area MP Edick Omondi Anyanga to call a for probe over the methods of exporting he precious stone to foreign markets. There were rumors awash that some prospectus could be siphoning the gold for export via the neighboring Tanzania and not paying the necessary taxes to the government coffer.

The legislators who were led by their chairman Hon Rev Mutaba Musyimi promised the residents that the team would come up with a report on the matter. “

“The community wants to know the manner in which these companies are operating. They need sensitization, a proper legislative framework and the government’s protection,”

However, the Nyanza based government geologist Martin Nyakinya defended the investors saying that currently the firm which is on the site {Bedrock} “was undertaking exploration, which he said would take much longer time to yield in actual mining. especially now that many companies that have come for the exercise are pulling out because questions of the financial viability of the project,” said Nyakinya.

The Geologist said one firm, Mid-Migori Company, had been granted the license to prospect for the minerals, but later entered into joint venture with other companies after it fell short of technical and financial capability.

The area MP who conducted the team around Edick Omondi Anyanga appealed to the government to intervene and resolve the issue for the community to benefit from the mining.

“We are standing on gold worth billions of shilling and the government should come in and help the situation,” said the MP.

Earlier the committee members heard that some of the companies which had been licensed to carry out exploration activities, were instead mining the minerals. ”Mining is going on, this is not an exploration exercise. There cannot be 20 years of prospecting and we suspect it is mining that is going on ,” said Mumias MP Benbjami Washiali.

In the late 1930 through to the 1940s and 1950s, there were full fledged gold mining companies in Mcalder Gold and Copper Mines Ltd, and also in Masara, Kihancha in the neighboring Kuria region and Lolgorien in the neighboring Trans-Mara region.

Macalder Mines later changed it hand in the 1950s and it was taken over by the Commonwealth Development Corporation {CDC}.

Another highly vibrant Gold Mines was situated at Kitere in the site where today sits the Mit Campus of the Moi University at Kitere. But all the mines were suddenly closed down in 1962 as the county approached its political independence in 1963. The expatriate miners hurriedly left the country in huff fearing that politically related chaos would erupt and that Kenya was just about to go the Congo way.

Ends