Do not hide mining data, caution experts

Transparency and accountability are the key to preventing conflicts likely to occur with the discovery of minerals, experts have said.

It will be equally advisable for the government to involve communities and other stakeholders affected by mining activities, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Director Maria-Threase Keating said.

This comes at a time the country has discovered deposits of titanium, oil and gas in Kwale, Lamu, Turkana and several other counties.

“It is a shame that mismanagement of mineral resources and wealth can result in fighting and communities being torn apart, leaving them poorer than before,” Ms Keating told journalists during a Mining Industry workshop at the Neptune Hotel in Kwale.

She said civil wars in countries like Liberia, DR Congo and Sierra Leone were due to the control of mineral wealth and poor wealth management structures.

UNDP Inclusive Growth and Social Development Programme Officer Patrick Maingi emphasised the need for government openness in the processes involving mining.

“All the mining information needs to be open to everybody. People want to know who signed the contract, when and where it was signed, how much it will be worth, among other things,” he told the meeting late last week.

He said that there was a tendency by the authorities to ignore concerns of the local communities, resulting in unnecessary loss of lives and destruction of property.

“The resident who has known the mining area as a grazing field needs a concrete assurance of compensation,” he said.

EMULATE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

University of Nairobi Environmental Law and Policy lecturer Collins Odote advised the government to consider joining agencies such as Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (Eiti) which, he said, had assisted member states to promote transparency.

Dr Odote said Eiti had developed a standard that assessed the levels of transparency around countries’ oil, gas and mineral resources through a board consisting of representatives from governments, extractive companies, civil society and international organisations and institutional investors.

The lecturer also advised Kenya to emulate best mineral management practices from countries such as Botswana which have avoided conflicts and minted mineral wealth into their development.

Media Council of Kenya chief executive officer Harun Mwangi urged journalists who covered stories on extractive industry to checklist all stakeholders in the mining industry to ensure they did not go against the law.

More than 25 participants from different media houses attended the two-day training.