Women venture into sand harvesting mines in Kilifi County

By ROBERT NYAGAH

Women are in the pe-riphery of the sand and stone extraction industry along the

Coast region, but things are chang-ing.

While the men crash the huge rocks in quarries and shape them into building stones in Kilifi County, women generally operate away from the quarries and create their own small outfits along the roads crash-ing coral rocks into building ballast for sale.

However, all the quarries under the multi-million sand harvesting industry, where more than 90 per cent of the building sand for the entire Coast region in Mjanaheri area in Kilifi County is harvested are owned and controlled by men with women rarely participating in direct extraction of the resource.

Owners and workers in the quarries which today threaten to eat into homesteads and render many houses inhabitable are elderly people who own the land and youth who contribute labour in the sand pits.

In this industry, women appear in the scene only to provide meals to miners or during environmental re-habilitation campaigns during which they are involved in the planting and watering of tree seedlings to restore exhausted quarries.

Jane Kahindi, a mother of six is a resident of Mjanaheri area and her husband owns two quarries where huge amounts of sand is harvested and confesses that women are rarely engaged in direct management of sand business even through inheri-tance.

“The sand harvesting industry has all along remained the domain of men and as women the only time we come in contact with direct incomes from the sand business is when we sell food to workers in the quarries” says Mrs. Kahindi.

Some women have also opened shops where they sell mainly clothes,

shoes where young people who earn from the quarries end up acquir-ing new clothes, shoes among other items hence assuring an indirect benefit for the women traders who cannot directly enter sand extraction work.

Magarini Sand Harvesters Associ-ation, chairman Raymond Chadi, ad-mits that the scenario where the men control all the quarries does not mean well for the industry because gender balance is required.

He admits that women are main-ly involved in rehabilitation work of exhausted quarries where they plant tree seedlings and participate in landscaping work adding that perhaps their direct involvement in the extracting activities should be encouraged.

“But the work is perhaps tough and labour intensive a scenario which hence keeps away women who choose periphery sources of income but closer to the quarries meaning they reap income indirect-ly” says a women leader in Magarini areas Joyce Kadzo.

Land ownershipThe fact that historical orien-

tation makes women not to own land in traditional setting among the Mijikenda Kadzo says could be partly to blame for their non direct involvement in the management of sand quarries.

Mutual respect, Kadzo says ex-ists in most families and women are respected and contribute heavily towards influencing how the sand resources are invested and spent. “They are key stakeholders in how the funds from the sand sales are managed hence they cannot be con-sidered as an ignored lot” explains Kadzo.

The Kilifi County government while not wanting to directly in-tervene to have women directly involved in sand extraction busi-ness has in the recent past launched campaigns to ensure that more ben-efits reach all stakeholders in the sector.

According to the Kilifi County deputy Governor Ken Kamto, the government has been formulating fresh laws to control the multi- mil-lion sand harvesting operations in the County to ensure better profits apart from controlling environmental deg-radation.

In fact one area which interests the government even more and which would affect children and women more is threats to the Mja-naheri Water Wells where more than 200,000 people within the neighborhoods of the quarries fetch

water from.Houses where families live have

also been facing collapse due to the expansion of the quarries which leave deep quarries closer to the houses, some which have collapsed or have been abandoned after the threat of collapse become clear.

“We cannot allow further ex-pansion of the quarries towards the Mjanaheri water wells, the only fresh water yielding wells between River Sabaki and Marereni area about 30 kilometers apart” says the deputy governor.

The deputy governor says “The wells served more than 200,000 peo-ple need our protection especially because fears have been raised that some mines had reached the water table and pollutants could be ending up in the natural underground water reservoirs.”

While a lorry of about seven tons cost some Sh. 350 at the Mjanaheri quarries, the same sand earned the in-vestors between Sh. 20,000 to 35,000 in Malindi, Mombasa and Nairobi sand markets.

Read more Reject stories online at www.mdcafr ica .org

A monthly newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service

September 1- 30, 2015

Continued on page 2

Women venture into sand harvesting

mines in Kilifi County

From top: Some of the women working at the sand mines in Kilifi County where the natural resource is in high demand by contractors in the building industry. MEN AT WORK: Men scoop the sand to load a lorry

in Kilifi County in a booming business in the Coast region. Picture: Robert Nyagah

Untold Stories of

extractive industry

ISSUE 112

2 U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t h ISSUE 112, September 1-30, 2015

Iron ore deposits change Kitui County’s economyBy BONIFACE MULU

Some serious civic education is needed for the residents of the mineral-rich Kitui County.

According to the United Na-tions Development Programme con-sultant, Dr. Temi Mutia, they also need a very serious intervention for the en-tire ecosystem.

Mutia added that there is insecurity challenges in the county’s main mineral areas where the mainstreaming minerals are the coal and limestones.

Coal is in the Mui Basin in Mu-titu and Mwingi East Districts of the county. And the limestones are in the county’s Ikutha and Kyuso Districts.

The other types of minerals that the county is rich in are iron ore, graphite and gypsum.

“We need a working group on is-sues of mining in the County, Mutia, who is also the Regional Institute for Social Enterprise (RISE) Kenya Chief Executive Officer, said.

PartnershipHe was lecturing the Mui Basin com-

munity representatives during a four-day capacity building training organised for them by the UNDP in partnership with the RISE Kenya, Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education, CARITAS and Kitui County government at the Ki-tui Parkside Villa Hotel in Kitui Town.

Kitui County Environment, Energy and Minerals Investment Development Minister, George Mulatya, was repre-sented at the function by the ministe-rial Chief Officer, Dr. Muusya Mwinzi and the County Environment Assistant Director, Dominic Mumbu.

In his speech, Mutia said that the uses of coal include the manufactur-ing of energy and electricity adding that most hotels in Europe use coal for cooking instead of using the electricity.

The official noted that there are

some special Acts that deal with coal mining in countries like the United Kingdom, China, South Africa, India and Australia because the coal is very dirty.

“In those countries, the coal is treated with some special care because it is a bad thing. It is not lumped to-gether with the other minerals because it is a bad thing,” he said.

Mutia said that the coal is an envi-ronmental hazard. “It makes the mining site together with everything at the site black. It pollutes water and air among many other effects,” the expert said.

The consultant claimed that cur-rently there is no one in Kenya with a coal-mining capacity, saying that what the local people have is only the theory about the coal mining and not the expertise.

EnvironmentOn her part, lawyer Caroline Kago,

said that if the mining can affect the en-vironment, an environmental impact assessment must be done first by the gov-ernment for the benefits of the environ-ment and the residents.

The lawyer said that in the Consti-tution the people have their environ-mental rights. “That right should not be infringed by any person. If your environmental rights are infringed, report the matter to the National En-vironment Management Authority for legal action to be taken against the in-fringer,” she said.

The lawyer says one can not deal with any mineral in Kenya unless you have the licences from the relevant authorities. She said that the National Land Commission is a commission formed by the government to help the people regarding land matters in the country under an Act of Parliament.

Kago said that the Commission is the one that does the land’s valuation and deals with the compensations to

the land owners in the country. All mineral resources in Kenya are

owned by Kenyans and are held in trust by the government for the ben-efit of Kenyans.

“And according to the Constitu-tion, community land is managed by the County government for the bene-fits of the community of that County,” Kago said.

BenefitsOn Matrimonial Property Act, the

lawyer said that there are many laws by the government that protect and take care of women.

Kago said that Kenyan women

need to know the laws that protect them. On his part, Mwinzi talked about the importance of the public participation in the issues pertaining to mining in Kitui County.

“We need public participation in the areas where we have minerals in Kitui County,” Mwinzi said. The CO said that people who are going to be affected by a decision should be in-volved in the discussions.

Others who also spoke included Christine Kalikanda and Daniel Muoti both from the Centre for Hu-man Rights and Civic Education and the UNDP Programme Officer Patrick Maingi.

Minerals prospector, Dominic Munyoki Kavindu, who says he has discovered a lot of iron ore within the Kitui’s Mui Coal basin.

Picture: John Syengo

“Presently land suit-able for agriculture and settlement is being slowly eaten by the sand mines and unless that is put to a stop, the entire Mjana-heri area will become de-graded environmentally and leave the local people without agricultural land for their own food” said Kamto.

Underage children have also been known to abandon their learning to earn a living in the mines where they load lorries with sand.

Experts have classified the Mjanaheri mines sand as the best building sand in East and Central Africa. A special collection of the sand is also specifically mines for ship cleansing activities with orders being frequently received from the port of Mombasa.

The full impact of sand excavation along Coast region which is leaving big gulley on the ocean front and posing an environmental degradation. Picture: Robert Nyagah

Continued from page 1

Women venture into sand harvesting mines in Kilifi County

Untold stories of extractive industry

ARM strikes ‘deal of the century’ in limestone

deal in Kyuso

By JOHN SYENGO

Cement Manufac-turer, Athi River Mining, has managed to win

not only the hearts of the residents of the limestone-rich Ngaie area in Kyuso sub-county of Kitui, but the County administra-tion.

Two years ago, before the 2013 general election, ARM ventured into the Ngaie hill where it was suspected that tones upon tones of limestone lay - the raw material used to make cement. And acting diligently and intelligently the company struck a deal of the century with the local residents.

The cement firm approached Ngaie to pros-pect for limestone with a lot of tact considering that an earlier attempt to venture into Mutomo in Southern Kitui boomer-anged on them. The firm’s efforts to take over the limestone mines in Mu-tomo led to a bitter court battle with a rival firm.

ARM then moved to Ngaie exercising meticu-lous care not to encounter similar roadblocks as was the case in Mutomo.

Fortunately for ARM, it was the only company that showed an interest in Ngaie, so the issue of a big scramble was non-existent.

Records indicate that ARM acquired a lime-stone prospecting license from the defunct Mwingi County Council under whose jurisdiction the limestone area fell for Sh.100, 000 fee. But even as the company moved to prospect, it met resistance from the Ngaie com-munity and resolved it amicably.

According to commu-nication from the Ngaie Community to the Kitui Governor Julius Malombe in 2014, the community struck a deal with ARM agreeing that they pay back by building eight modern classrooms in two schools within the lime-stone area in exchange for being allowed to prospect.


Dark side of Migori County gold mines By MILLER OMEGA

As pupils of Mikeyi Primary School in Nyatike Sub-county prepared to close school for the second term, Merrice Anyango, a teacher is wor-

ried about the poor standards of education that they are witnessing.

Anyango, who has been a teacher in the school for three years, says the number of pu-pils in upper primary always reduces as the year progresses, a menace she blames on gold mining at Macalder and Osiri mines.

Ever since gold was discovered by colonial-ists in the Migori gold belt, which stretches across Migori and Narok counties as well as parts of Tanzania in 1920, the sector has been reduced to artisanal mining.

“You see any mine around Migori and you will see children being used to draw water for curing and moving the ore. Our school has been most affected as we are only metres away from the two major mines,” says Anyango as she points to the mines.

According to Anyango, school dropout rates are high as children are lured to the mines with the promise of hitting a jackpot.

Peter Ogindo, Migori Children’s Officer, says gold mines are major source of cheap la-bour as children do not know their rights.

“We have urged operators of the mines through their informal organisations to keep children from the mines, but due to high levels of poverty most parents are forced to pull their children from schools to help them with pros-pecting,” explains Ogindo.

But Peter Gwengi, Director of Lake Victo-

ria Initiatives (LAVIN), says apart from child labour, the sector is faced with death traps, especially in the use of poisonous mercury to extract and amalgamate raw gold before it is sold.

Gwengi says that mercury has been behind rising cases of cancer and skin diseases, espe-cially among children who use it to extract the gold.

When Reject visited the mine last month, Angeline Ombaka, 28, was prospecting with her daughter along River Migori.

Ombaka, who is a widow and a mother of four, says her Class Six daughter was out of school since they were done with examinations and were free.

“This is gold dust that we get after working on raw ore we bought from miners for a week. We will have to boil it with mercury to get the finer gold,” Ombaka explains as she points at a yellow streak of mud at the bottom of her ba-sin.

The dust is collected after running water logged ore over a gunny bag.

Ombaka is part of estimated 3,000 artisans in the belt with another 30,000 always heading to the belt during the gold season and this is especially during drought.

Gwengi says most miners come from Ron-go, Kehancha, Suna and Nyatike. They look sickly from poor handling of the deadly mer-cury and other dangerous items.

“Mercury and other heavy metals have also soaked up in water and soil which has made drinking water and vegetables to be unsafe,” observes Gwengi.

A research published in the Journal of Geo-

chemical Exploration in 2014 by a group of lo-cal and international scientists dubbed “Impact of Gold Mining on the Environment and Human Health: A Case Study in the Migori Gold Belt, Kenya” pointed out that levels of mercury in the county are high.

“We concluded that gold mining and other human activities in the Migori gold belt have led to the release of toxic levels of cadmium, lead and mercury which may lead to serious environmental health consequences in hu-mans,” the report states.

The research collected 50 soil and wa-ter samples from 11 mining sites in the belt weighing two to three kilos and compared them with a sample from Nairobi Industrial Area.

“When we compared Nairobi samples with those from Migori’s two largest sites at Ma-calder and Mikeyi, we found them to be 14,472 per cent and 2,426 per cent more respectively which is a mind boggling figure for a rural cen-tre,” says Jason Ogola, scientist with South Af-rican Venda University for Science and Tech-nology.

The research found that during peak min-ing periods a miner during this time will use from 150 to 200 kilogrammes per month for extraction. Out of this, about 40 per cent are lost during panning and 60 per cent during heating.

“The most dangerous part is heating of mer-cury where the fumes are easily inhaled and if carelessly handled could cause septic wounds on hands, lungs and intestinal walls to expose miners to complications which include cancer. This, apparently, leads to death within two or

three years,” the report states.Nyatike MP Edick Anyanga says there are

poor living conditions at the mines as workers are forced to work in water logged mines which aggravates their health further.

“The Migori County Government in July tried to ban mining which was a cosmic effect. We have been installing solar panels and sup-porting schools around mines especially sec-ondary schools to curtail dropout rates,” says Anyanga.

He explains: “By the time colonialists left the mines in 1966, a total of 4,284 kilogrammes of gold, 1,210 kilogrammes of silver and 20 000 tonnes of copper had been mined. Ever since then we only have illegal miners who should be regulated.”

According to Anyanga through the new mining laws; the Cabinet Secretary for Mining Najib Balala will work with investors, civil so-ciety organisations and health departments to have on-site training for miners on safe mining practices like the use of dust masks, air filters and heavy chemical gloves during mining and mineral processing.

Anyanga has supported the locals to regis-ter Lower Kuja Irrigation Water Project (Loki-wap) Association to regulate use of heavy met-als like mercury especially as the region where there is the Konyango and Lower Kuja projects, which have a total value of KSh6.2 billion and cover over 10,000 hectares.

“The high concentration of poisonous heavy metals also pose a risk of stalling two ir-rigation schemes. Lokiwap will control mining around irrigation zones in use of water in both rivers Kuja and Migori,” says Anyanga.

Children and women in Tana River County

cry out for helpBy YUSUF AMIN

Women and children in clash-prone Tana River and Kilifi County boundary are leaving in

fear.This is because of the frequent inter-

community clashes along their com-mon boundary in Coast region.

The women have been complaining of sexual harassment from their attack-ers after invading their villages, attack-ing them and injuring their loved ones and leaving others dead.

In the latest incident last month, more than 700 women and 300 chil-dren were displaced and were forced to seek refuge at Hurara primary school in Magarini sub County among other areas.

Pauline Wambura, who was at-tacked, said the raiders wanted to rape her but she screamed for help, struggled and succeeded to run for her dear life.

It was in the camp that was created for them in Hurara that Pauline sought for refugee and joined other fellow women and children who had already escaped from the raiders.

“The situation was very bad, men who were armed with pangas, bows and arrows, invaded my house, harassed me and wanted to rape me. They turn to be animals although we had leaved with them for many years as our neigh-bours,” she said, during a visit by jour-nalist at their refugee camp.

She said most of the women were

left behind by their male relatives who run for their safety, but they were dragged behind by their children.

Wambura noted that they spent the whole night in the bush and were later rescued by security officers who had gone to their rescue from the hands of the killers.

Kadzo Mbogo, who was among the many displaced people, said her chil-dren were affected psychologically as they watched how she was attacked and roughed up.

Mbogo said they were still in shock and they needed a lot of counseling so as to recover.

“It was very bad; they watched their mothers going through harassment from their neighbours who they had coexisted with in peace for many years.

The children in the camps were fac-ing many challenges, these includes lack of food, mosquito nets leading to expo-sure to many preventable diseases.

She lamented that they were strand-ed at the camp and were not ready to re-turn to their villages because they feared for their lives.

She made a passionate appeal to the Government to intervene and ensure that adequate security was provided in the area.

“We are not ready to go back to our villages, it is better we stay in this camp for the rest of our lives if the govern-ment is unable to provide us with secu-rity” she noted

So far, many of the children have been unwell with some vomiting while

others having diarrhea. They are now calling on health officers to visit their camp and help them deal with such diseases.

Kilifi County Commissioner Joseph Keter, who visited the camp, said the government was working on measures to beef up security along the border of Tana River and Kilifi Counties.

Keter, who chairs the security com-mittee, noted that more police officers have been deployed to the area to pro-tect the residents without discrimina-tion.

The Commissioner asked the com-munities to come out openly and share information with the security officers so that the attackers could be arrested and arraigned in court.

On her part, Sidi Kadhengi said

that she saw three men being beaten by the attackers and then turned to her and threatened to kill her.

She said the raiders were very harsh and demanded that they relocate from that area saying it was a place where they took their livestock for grazing.

“They tied me with my leso and they threatened to kill me, I told them to give me time to pray, I closed my eyes and started praying for half an hour, when I opened my eyes, the at-tackers had left. I knew God helps His people,” she said.

She further said that she saw three men tied on a tree but they were still alive, it was at that time that the security officers traced and rescued them and drove them to Malindi hospital where they were treated.

Earlier, the County Commissioner appealed to the leaders not to incite the communities and resolve their differ-ences amicably as they enhance peace in the area.

“At this situation, women and chil-dren are the most affected, men can run away and are also able to defend them-selves” the CC said.

During the attacks three men were killed. Tana River county has been faced with many clashes leaving women and children most affected.

Kilifi County Commander, Doug-las Kanja, said a manhunt was under-way to search and arrest the attackers and bring them to book from their hideouts.

Kanja warned politicians against inciting the public.

Face to face with victims of Tana Delta clashes between residents of Kilifi and Tana River Counties. Picture: Yusuf Amin



Turkana County set to be Kenya’s economic natural resource hub

By HENRY OWINO

The future of Turkana County is bright thanks to the recent discovery of water and oil re-sources on the one hand and

the devolving of county governments.Turkana was among the regions in

the country that had been marginalised since independence by successive gov-ernments.

However, while the County is located in an arid land, its natural resources are not limited to oil. There could be more natural resources that are yet to be dis-covered there, now it has the opportu-nity to administer itself.

Turkana County government is up and running in ensuring that the natural resources extracted are used to improve livelihoods.

Coming from a humble beginning the County could be the nation’s eco-nomic hub.

According to the County’s Gover-nor Josphat Nanok, discovery of oil has brought to the forefront the plight of the Turkana people.

Nanok describes the county as a place that was marginalised for pastoral-ists and nothing good could come from it. He regrets that Turkana residents were blacklisted and called names.

“Oil discovery has ignited consider-able new-found interest in this neglected region by non-Turkanas and foreign ac-tors,” says Nanok.

He hopes the oil deposits will help change perceptions that the county has nothing to offer and is only conflict-prone.

Nanok admits that there have been conflicts between the Turkanas and neighbouring communities. Nonethe-less, he notes, this has been due to com-petition over scarce pasture and water

resources.“This matter of cattle rustling has

been addressed along our borders. The new conflict emerging could be as re-sults of vested interest in oil discovery in Tullow and Lokichar in Turkana Coun-ty,” discloses Nanok.

While the discovery of oil in Turkana should offer relief to the suffering com-munity in Kenya, it has now turned to be a point of conflict between the residents and the Tullow Oil Company.

Neighbouring counties are also alleg-ing that overflow oil is on their land and are hence making a claim to a share of the precious resource.

Nanok notes that the county govern-ment is not taking the issue lightly and the matter is with the High Court. He says from his own experience, many countries with oil especially in Africa have gone through conflicts and other challenges.

The oil has started attracting both local and foreign investors such as Tullow Oil Company (a British compa-ny-oil investor) camping at Lodwar and Lokichar, the major towns in Turkana county.

The major areas that oil deposits have been discovered are the wells that are under Ngamia One, Twiga One South, Ekale One and Etuko.

According to residents, Tullow Oil Company has been out to short-change their dreams. The company underesti-mates their skills and only hires outsiders to do the work they claim to be qualified for.

They are demanding that tenders for food supply, charcoal and cleaning services be awarded to residents directly first; their vehicles be hired; advertise-ment made in Turkana local media not national media in Nairobi; and that Tullow only source from outside when

expertise is not available locally. This has been another bone of con-

tention between residents and the oil company and might be a possible source of future conflicts.

Manuek Enkoloi laments that several residents’ land was taken away forcefully by the County government and they have not been compensated. He claims they have been forced to be squatters in their own County.

Enkoloi says: “The county govern-ment’s move was not resisted by the community because oil had to be ex-tracted.”

However, it was dangerous and a big health hazard for residents to live there while heavy machines drill the mineral resource.

“Everybody who used to live along the well where oil was discovered was displaced and has no proper place to live. Our County government is doing nothing about it yet it is aware we are suffering,” Enkoloi laments.

However, according Peter Ekai,

Deputy Governor Turkana County, they have formed an inter-agency committee to address issues raised by the community and reconcile the resi-dents and Tullow Oil Company.

Ekai is optimistic that the committee of experts will look at the residents’ in-terests critically before addressing their grievances.

“The national and county govern-ments as well as the community at large should have a consensus regard-ing grievances pinpointed for the drill-ing to continue without hitches,” says Ekai.

He elaborates: “You know when a new project comes to a community ev-erybody will want to be involved and

benefit from it.”According to Ekai the oil in Tur-

kana is not just for the locals, but will also benefit the whole country.

“The Republic of Kenya needs to grow, and the exploration of oil in Tur-kana County has that future in terms of economic growth. I am sure it will propel this country to the next eco-nomic level,” Ekai reiterates.

He notes that Kenya will save bil-lions of shillings used to import oil from other countries once the local oil is available.

If everything goes according to plan by the Ministry of Mining, oil production for local use will be ready by 2017.

Kwale residents ‘duped’ with KSh1,000 for title deeds By OMAR MWALAGO

A row is brewing between the Ministry of Mining and the Kwale County Government over the licensing and plans

to extract minerals in the area.Kwale County leaders are accusing

Mining Cabinet Secretary, Najib Balala of irregularly awarding mining compa-nies’ exploration licenses without con-sultation.

Led by Governor Salim Mvurya, Sen-ator Boy Juma and MP Khatib Mwashet-ani, the leaders have vowed that they will not allow any exploration to take place in the area without consultations and their nod.

The exploration of mineral is earmarked to take place in parts of Msambweni, Matuga and Lunga Lunga sub-counties.

The controversy is so serious that, last month, the leaders held a special meet-ing to discuss it at Matuga School of Government.

The revelation was made by retired chief Patrick Muli who presented a copy of Kenya Gazette notice of 10 April 2015 approving Supreme Resources Mining Company to go ahead with exploration.

The leaders warned that they will not tolerate such issues and warned Balala

against disrespecting County leadership by issuing licenses to investors and min-ers without consulting land owners.

“Notice is given that an application under section 17 of the Mining Act has been made by Messrs Supreme Resourc-es Kenya Limited for a special license to prospect for heavy minerals sand over an area described in the schedule herein and the application has been accepted for consideration,” read the Gazette no-tice in part.

Another burning issue is that the af-fected area also touches gazetted forests which include Buda, Gongoni and Mu-haka among others.

“Balala cannot wake up out of the blues and without consulting land own-ers, go ahead to dish out licenses without recognising the County leadership. If he gave out the licenses, then let him find for them the land to do it,” said Mvurya.

The Governor noted that residents have a right to demand and to be told about compensation, environmental concerns and benefits to the County and the national government before such projects are licensed.

“No exploration will take place in the earmarked areas in Lunga Lunga, Msambweni and Matuga without con-sultation with the County leadership,” the Governor told Kwale residents.

In the same breadth, Mvurya asked residents not to give out copies of their ti-tle deeds to anyone to avoid being duped.

Mvurya said they were on the look-out and were aware that some villages like Fikirini and Kibuyuni have been earmarked for mining exploration be-fore full consultation was done.

The tough-talking Governor vowed that his government will not watch as its people get oppressed in their land. He warned the residents against “cheap job opportunities” used as propaganda by some companies to lure them into giving out their title deeds.

On his part, Senator Juma Boy warned that Kwale people will not be taken for a ride by national government and its leaders.

“Those who don’t know about Kwale let them go back to the history. We will not allow Balala to give mining licenses to companies because the land belongs to us,” Boy said.

The leaders further claimed that chiefs and their assistants in Msambwe-ni and Lunga Lunga were luring locals to surrender their title deeds to accept mining exploration by one of the firms.

One of the companies, Base Titani-um Mining Company, which is already exporting minerals from Maumba sand project, wants to do exploration of min-

erals at Ramisi in Msambweni and Van-ga in Lunga Lunga.

The process of getting consent from locals was stopped by Mvurya after he claimed the company did not consult the leaders.

Locals led by Abdallah Mwamriango revealed how chiefs and their assistants were offering KSh1,000 to residents who surrendered their title deeds, but some were reported to have rejected the offer.

“Those who have accepted have been forced to do so because they are dishing out money. This is why we rejected it be-cause we felt the plan was not good,” said Mwamriango.

According to Mwamriango, the ad-ministrators were warning locals that the national government was determined to ensure the exploration process takes place by all means.

He made the remarks during a meet-ing between County leaders, national leaders and Base Titanium top officials.

However, Msambweni Deputy County Commissioner, Mwangangi Mwania, admitted having allowed the company to get consent from locals be-hind their backs, but avoided the issue of money being dished out by chiefs.

“Some of the locals accepted the project and others rejected. I thought the company would meet leaders after

exhausting with locals but we can still go back and start afresh,” Mwania said.

Base Resources General Manager for External Affairs and Development, Joe Schwarz said that the title deeds were re-turned to owners.

“We don’t take original title deeds as claimed, we are only interested in photocopies which accompany the consent forms,” explained Schwarz.

He said the company appreciates the issue of consultation between lead-ers and the locals.

“It is true we need to open a new chapter of consultation, if locals accept we will do the exploration and if they reject we will forget about it,” Schwarz said.

Meanwhile, according to Mvurya, a team consisting of county assembly and national government leaders will go to the ground and come up with a report. ‘We want those locals who were given KSh1,000 to surrender their title deeds to give back the money to the chiefs because that amounts to selling of their land,” reiterated Mvurya.

Mvurya noted that the report will reveal everything that has been raised by locals.

Senator Boy urged locals to avoid giv-ing their title deeds to strangers or even to people they know.

Turkana Governor, Josphat Nanok Koli, and his deputy, Peter Email,

address the media in his office during a courtesy call. Below:

One of the main streets in Lodwar town, the capital of Turkana

County, where oil was discovered and is being mined by Tullow Oil

Company. Pictures: Henry Owino



Women remain in the

dark in coal deals

By JOHN SYENGO

As all systems go for min-ing of coal in Kitui County, new findings show that the community especially

women in the expansive Mui Coal ba-sin are in the dark on the steps being taken in preparation for the mineral exploration.

Women have been put in pe-riphery in serious issues concerning relocation, compensation and job opportunities as few of them attend sensitisation meetings organized by the Ministry of Energy, civil society groups and elected leaders.

Findings of a study carried by a civil society organisation in the four blocks A to D show that over 80 percent of the population in the ba-sin comprising mainly women have never participated in any coal min-ing forums organised by key players in the industry.

The study that focused on gender dimensions and implications of coal in the basin showed that 89.9 percent women will be largely affected by the mining process compared to men (10.1 percent).

If the coal project was to take off today, women and other vulner-able groups will be disadvantaged as they will not benefit fully from the resource in addition to threatening family stability as stable marriage will be at stake, says the report.

ResearchThe research conducted by Centre

for Governance and Development (CGD) with funding from the Cana-dian Government revealed growing disconnect between gazetted com-munity liaison committee members and the community whose concerns have not been addressed.

The report released in June, indi-cated that 89.2 percent of the respon-dents had neither heard of coal con-sultations forums nor participated in any coal meetings organised by key stakeholders compared to 11.8 per-cent who said they had attended the forums.

Further analysis reveals that men participation in the project consul-tation was higher at 76.3 percent as opposed to that of women at 23.7 percent, said CGD Chief Executive Officer Kennedy Masime.

Consequently, he said a small percentage of 17.40 respondents said they will participate in the coal mining activities compared to 49.80 percent who said they were not sure while 32.90 percent said they would not.

On whether the extraction phas-es could provide equal opportuni-ties across gender, 50.2 percent be-lieved that men and women would be given equal opportunities while another 48.9 percent felt otherwise indicating minimal statistical dis-parities.

Masime said women expressed reservations about receiving equal share in incidences where the hus-band had died while the land was still held jointly by the deceased

brothers.‘’ The study indicates that women

are largely excluded from participat-ing in the coal exploratory stages of the sector due to marginalisation at the consultative phases, cultural barriers and attitudes’’, said Masime.

On anticipated socio-economic benefits, he said most of the respon-dents at 83.5 percent listed job cre-ation as positive impact, improve-ment of road network 50.1 per cent; improvement of markets for their produce 43.3 percent and compensa-tion 43.2 percent.

PreferencesA bigger percentage of the re-

spondents, 60 percent, preferred to be given a leeway to buy land else-where for settlement while the rest said they would like to be settled in eco-villages not to disrupt their cul-tural beliefs.

The respondents also gave diver-gent views on compensation cost per acre of land with 56 percent opting to be paid between shs 60,000 and Shs 700,000 while 27 percent settled on shs 2 million per acre.

Masime stressed the need for gen-der- aware community development platform to ensure that accrued reve-nue on the mining proceeds becomes

significant avenue for empowerment, especially of women.

He urged the County government to undertake civic education to clarify existing policies, laws and regulations to safeguard the interests of the com-munity.

CGD findings is a replica of life testimony of most women who have attended mineral extractive industry forums in Kitui and expressed fears of separating with their husbands if the compensation deals is not handled properly.

‘’We have seen elsewhere where people have been relocated to pave way for mineral mining and men run-ning away with the money leaving their wives and children languishing in poverty. We don’t want this to hap-pen in Mui’’, said Breda Mutia, during a recent seminar organised by UNDP in Kitui.

She is of the opinion that the compensation funds should be shared between three parties, the husband, the wife and their chil-dren. But this stand was bitterly ob-jected to by male participants who said it will lead to direct disorienta-tion of families.

Another participant, Ruth Mu-tunga, was of the view that spouses and their children should first be

taken for counseling sessions before the compensation money is released.

‘’When we talk of the family, we mean man, wife and children who are key beneficiaries of the compen-sation kitty and one party cannot claim to represent others as this is where the problem starts,’’ she said.

Gender imbalanceShe said women started to be

sidelined from the formation of the liaison community committees as the 2/3 gender rule was not observed as the committees are dominated by men.

‘’The issue of compensation should be handled soberly as it is not only sensitive, but can also lead to marginalisation of the community as it can easily affect family institution already in disarray due to social fac-tors’’, said Dr. Temi Mutia, a UNDP Consultant.

He says although coal-mining could be a blessing to the commu-nity, if not checked, it can have far reaching consequences if the issue of compensation and relocation is not adequately addressed.

Dr. Mutia says contents of the yet to be signed addendum put in place

after the community objected the Benefits Sharing Agreement (BSA) should be made public for the resi-dents to make a decision.

‘’We are being told that coal min-ing will start anytime but the com-munity is not in the know of what is contained in the addendum that out-lines its stake in the mining process’’, said Dr. Mutia.

As confusion reigns in the multi billion project, it has emerged that residents might wait longer for the project due to stand off between the investor, Fenxi Coal Mining Compa-ny and a local company which has a 30 per cent stake.

Kitui County Executive for Envi-ronment and minerals investment, George Mulatya, said the project is dogged by problems pitying the investor and the local Great Lakes Company over payment of some fees.

“I can confirm to you that the na-tional government has written to the Chinese government complaining of the investor, and if there is no posi-tive response, chances are that the concession might be cancelled and another investor sought’’, Mulatya maintained.


From top: The Kitui Governor Julius Malombe addressing a meeting in Kitui town early this year. The Chief Geologist in the

Ministry of Energy John Omenge shows community members from the Mui Coal Basin samples of coal collected from at number of exploration wells. LSK Chairman Eric Mutua (right)and the MCA for Mui ward Musee Mulongo (left) address the media at a Mwingi hotel on coal matters. A map of Kitui county showing the location

of the Mui Coal Basin.Pictures: John Syengo


Women break sweat in previously male dominated minesBy Gladys Moraa

It is midday on Friday and she is busy hammering on the heavy rocks at Soweto Quarry in Njoro, Nakuru County. Lucy

Kemunto is one of the many women who work in quarries that are situ-ated within the County.

Her concentration is so high as she is focused on filling two wheel-barrows with ballast by the end of her working day at 4 pm.

For Kemunto, there is nothing like a man’s job when she has to put food on the table. She is one of the many women who are not choosey about the job they want to do as long as it helps feed and educate their chil-dren.

The 30 year old mother of five looks much older than her age. This could be because of the harsh terrain she is exposed to on a daily basis.

For the past two years, the quar-ry has been her station of duty and source of making a living. Kemunto starts her work at 8am and endures the dust and scorching heat all day

side by side with her male colleagues.Her husband works as a herds-

man in one of the farms in the area. His monthly earnings can barely meet their basic needs like clothing, meals and education for their chil-dren.

Says Kemunto: “There is no way I can ignore this work and let my children sleep hungry no matter how strenuous it is to.” She adds: “My hus-band earns only KSh2,200 a month, which is not even enough to feed us for a month.”

Kemunto notes: “The pain of let-ting our children sleep hungry is more than the pain I can endure in this quarry.”

Even after crushing a tonne of ballast used for building, equivalent to seven wheelbarrows and which she sells for KSh200, getting buyers is another challenge and takes weeks if not a month.

In order to survive, Kemunto is forced to split her time between fetching water and washing clothes for the willing residents within the location.

She has some worries. One of which is that her 16 year-old daugh-ter who scored 275 marks in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education could not join high school due to lack of school fees.

“My husband does not have any savings and neither do I. We live from hand to mouth. I have pleaded with my relatives to assist me raise the school fees to no avail,” says Ke-munto. She adds: “I want my daugh-ter to be in school and not in this quarry with me,” says Kemunto.

She is among millions of women in Kenya in poverty and has to take up traditional male tasks in order to feed her family. Their plight is wors-ened because her husband is semi-illiterate and lacks special skills, making life even harder. The wages they earn from casual jobs can hard-ly meet the family’s needs.

Experts argue that pressures to meet family needs have contributed to rapid erosion of men’s role as sole providers as women fill in the gaps.

“Men are no longer the traditional providers of families and women are

finding themselves in awkward posi-tions. They are pushed to the corners such that they are willing to take up heavy manual jobs to survive, feed their children and take them to school, “says Dr Damaris Parsitau, Director Institute of Gender, Women and Development Studies at Egerton University.

Official records show that by 2014, about 32 per cent of the house-holds in the country were headed by a female which means she took care of the shelter, clothing, food, medi-cal and education expenses among other needs.

More specifically, the female headed households were predomi-nant in the rural settings as reported in the Socio-Economic Atlas of Ke-nya by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Overtime, women in rural areas have transformed from labourers in the farms into technicians working in factories and mining industries such as stone crushing and carv-ing, jobs that were previously a male preserve.

However, there is danger in women gaining confidence in abil-ity to head families as pointed out by Parsitau.

She argues, for wives to give up on their husbands who have been so-cialised to be head of families, deeply injures their masculinity pushing them to resort to other deconstruc-tive ways to affirm their manhood.

“When most men (husbands) see a woman (wife) struggling to put food on the table, they feel no ob-ligation to work,” says Parsitau. She adds: “They become frustrated and wonder what to do with their mas-culinity, a feeling that would drive them to alcoholism.”

In her opinion, such men who face social and economic insecurity also require empowerment to adapt to new developments in the society.

In the Global Gender Gap Index, 2014 where Kenya ranked 37 out of the 142 countries, the ability of women to rise to enterprise leadership is rated at 4.8 per cent which gives an indica-tion of how far the country is in bridg-ing the gap on economic participation.

Cartels of impunity reap from Makueni’s ‘black gold’ despite ban By MELISSA MUENI

Residents of Makueni County have decided to stand up for their rights for the love of their ‘black gold’. That is

the nickname given to the precious mineral scoped from the banks of the many rivers crisscrossing the area.

Despite the ban by Makueni Gov-ernor Kivutha Kibwana, a cartel led by barons have been working round the clock to circumvent the law and ferry the precious mineral to neighbouring counties including Nairobi for con-struction purposes.

Indeed, commercial sand harvest-ing in lower Eastern is raising tension in some parts of the county as a group of rowdy youth are used to scare away those who protect the mineral from be-ing scooped by some sand barons.

Armed with poisoned arrows, the primary and secondary school drop-outs are now ready to take the law into their own hands.

Sand harvesting was officially banned in Makueni by the Governor Kibwana until a policy to regulate the sand harvesting is passed by the Coun-ty Assembly.

Since then, Kibwana has reported receiving several death threats, but has vowed to soldier on.

Makueni County Assembly after a long delay passed the regulation which is now a law. However, the sand controlling cartels will not hear any of it and the commodity is being ferried day and night.

Meanwhile a frustrated Kibwana has criticised the police and National Environment Management authority (NEMA) officials for allowing impu-nity to thrive, as the ‘county’s gold’ is pocketed by rich and powerful heads of the cartels.

In Kasikeu Ward, for example, residents are a worried lot because their children are being used in the standoff between the barons and sand harvesters.

Musau Mweu, a parent in one of the local day schools in the area, says he has

had sleepless nights since he admitted his two sons to the school.

‘’Every time my two boys, both in Form Three do not show up early from school, I get worried as I do not know what they are doing out there. Some children ignore our advice. Some of my neighbours have lost their children in this business,” says Mweu.

Some of the students are lured by financial attraction which leads others to alcoholism and drug abuse as well as commercial sex among other vices.

Another parent who only identifies herself as ‘Mama Mutheu’, and did not wish for her names to be published, said that unwanted pregnancies and rape were starting to be common in the area, adding that her daughter was impregnated by a lorry driver whom she referred to as ’mkora’ and left her behind with the heavy burden.

“I’m raising the two children be-cause my daughter was in Form Two by the time she got pregnant. Life has not been the same since then. I can-not locate the man and force him to take up his responsibility as the child’s father, says Mama Mutheu with bitter-ness.”

It is an ordeal in the area as parents go through the pain of losing their chil-dren and they are helpless about the whole situation.

The police have been accused of misusing their mandate by turning their roadblocks into illegal tax stations for each lorry driver who passes ferry-ing the ‘black gold’ of County.

Recently, distressed residents of Kasikeu said enough was in enough to blocked sand harvesters from using the banks of River Enguli and Kaluku for the illegal business conducted in the wee hours of the night. During the showdown, they burned down two lor-ries that had been filled with the pre-cious mineral.

By the time reporters arrived at the scene, smoke was still bellowing from the ashes. Youth who work hand in hand with the cartels could be seen hovering around in a manner that suggested a revenge mission was in

the offing.Similar clashes have been reported

along the banks of other rivers in Ka-sikeu. These are Enguli, Kayata, Mbi-tini, Mangala, Kiungwani and Kwa Nditi.

On his part, Kilome Deputy Com-missioner Fredrick Ouma, is on record warning lorry owners to distance them-selves from the controversy by refusing to hire their vehicles to be used in the banned business.

“They will not be compensated by authorities or insurance firms for being part of an illegal activity,” says Ouma.

At the same time Ouma warned residents not to take the law into their own hands.

He denied claims that some of the drivers have been tipping him in his office at Malili so that he can turn a blind eye to their activities.

“We also have lorries from other counties that have been licensed for

the business but I will not deny that the corruption bit is not there. We only need to strengthen the police unit to serve the people better,” reiterated Ouma.

Similarly, Muchiri Mbogo, Mukaa police boss, conceded that some police officers were involved in sand busi-ness and promised to take stern action against those who will be caught.

However, Kilome MP Regina Nd-ambuki is on record on several occa-sions accusing the police along Mom-basa Road of misusing their powers and letting the sand scoopers tip them before passing through roadblocks.

Ndambuki, who claims to have a

list of shame of corrupt police officers, plans to take the matter up and have the officers named and shamed be-fore being transferred out of Makueni County.

“Sometimes I wonder what hap-pened to the National Environmen-tal Management Authority (NEMA). They should be protecting our envi-ronment,” said Ndambuki when she toured the affected areas. She intoned: “Our youth are failing too for being used by rich people who do not care about their well-being as our school girls are at risk too.”

Ndambuki says: “This is too much for us and no one is helping us out.’’

Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRCE) Executive Director Rhoda Musyoka (left) hands over the public charter

to Kitui County Chief Officer for coordination of county affairs Mwende Katusya to empower communities in mineral zones to

bargain for their rights in mineral exploration process. Picture: Charles Muasya



Rich iron in Taveta fails to benefit residentsBy BENSON MWANGA

For Mwandawiro Mbela, min-ing for precious minerals in Taita Taveta County is a thankless job.

Mbela, who is one of the hundreds of miners in the vast county in Coast region, has very little to show for his many years excavating in the mines because of the high level of exploita-tion by investors.

Mbela stares at a bleak future where his dream of becoming rich has all but vanished despite hailing from the iron-ore rich Kishushe Location, Wundanyi Division of the vast county.

He is among thousands of resi-dents who have been protesting about exploitation of miners by wealthy gemstone dealers.

“We are not happy with the way tonnes of iron-ore worth millions of shillings are being transported daily from our county to Mombasa for ex-port,” laments Mbela.

According to Mbela, tycoons have turned out to be like ‘ticks suck-ing blood’ from the residents as they are reaping maximum benefits from the vast mineral resources with im-punity while residents remain poor. An estimated 70 per cent of mining activities take place in the mineral rich region and prospects of striking it rich

quickly from gemstone or mineral deposits has continued to draw many people from across the country.

The gems have attracted thousands of job seekers from all over the coun-try since the commercial exploration of gemstones started in the region in the 1970s.

According to Mbela, for the past 40 years investors have been harvesting iron ore in the area, but there is little to show for it in terms of development.

The victims have included chil-dren, especially orphans, who have been forced to drop out of school due to lack of fees.

“We had signed an MOU earlier with the investors on how to share profits accrued from iron ore, but it is yet to be implemented. The investors are being protected by a senior politi-cian in this area,” claims Mbela.

Residents have been protesting and demanding that the investors consult them more whenever they are prospecting and extracting min-erals in the area.

In Kishushe area, residents are op-posed to a multi-million shilling iron-ore mining project by Wanjala Mining Company Limited, saying they want their demands to be heard and ad-dressed first.

“We welcome investors, but they have to be accountable to the local

community who are custodians of the resources that should benefit them under a sound revenue sharing pro-gramme,” says Edith Lewela, a local gemstone dealer. She notes: “Anything short of this will be rejected since the community has been short-changed by investors.”

Experts say Taita is ranked as the second region with the highest poten-tial of iron-ore in the country; other areas are Kakamega and Kitui coun-ties which also have gold and coal re-serves.

However, despite the fact that the region is endowed with vast natural resources, residents lack water, health facilities and schools as well as a good road network.

“There are too many hurdles and discrimination against the locals in ac-quiring mining licenses. Lack of credit facilities has also impacted negatively on the local community,” says Mbela.

The residents expect that under devolution the county government will have greater say in the utilisation and management of the resources that have not been fully exploited to benefit residents. “If exploited more efficiently, the mineral wealth could generate substantive income,” said a senior government official. He not-ed: “The miners’ code of secrecy is responsible for lack of data on gem-

stone that have been mined and sold. It is estimated that earnings from gemstones alone could run into bil-lions of shillings annually.”

On the other hand Mbela called for the immediate revocation of a mining license issued to a mining company extracting iron ore in the area. He claims the firm is harvesting iron ore illegally having been issued a license without consent of the land owners.

“The plot in which mining is taking place belongs to Kishushe Ranching Cooperative Society. The management of the society was not consulted hence the need to revoke the license,” says Mbela, who is chairman of Kishushe Ranching Cooperative Society Limited.

The mining company has been dogged by controversies over the man-ner in which it was given consent to mine iron ore in a 64.4 square kilome-tre plot in the ranch. The ranch mem-bers claim the company was being protected by an MP and unscrupulous provincial administration officials. Of-ficial government records show that Taita-Taveta County is ranked third in terms of natural resources, but is the third poorest in the country.

According to a geological survey conducted by the mining company, the mine has about four million metric tonnes of iron ore.

The company’s Managing Direc-

tor, Mahmood Miyanji, says they spent more than KSh20 million on Corporate Social Responsibility in the community over the past three years. “We’ve already implemented water, health and education projects in the area and residents have started reaping the benefits of the mining resources in their midst,” explains Miyanji.

Unconfirmed reports, however, in-dicate that the company has been col-lecting between 16,000-20,000 tonnes of iron ore monthly but residents claim the figure could be higher.

Recently, 21 Kenyan ambassadors and high commissioners visited the area and decried the high poverty lev-els in the region. They called for a last-ing solution to the problem.

The envoys came face to face with the poverty levels and poor infra-structure in the region that is en-dowed with a wide range of mineral deposits. They were on a familiarisa-tion tour of the mining areas so that they could help in marketing and pro-moting available investment oppor-tunities in their respective countries where they had been accredited to. Speaking after inspecting the Wan-jala Mining Company, the envoys said resources like minerals, water and wildlife have not been tapped to effec-tively benefit the local community in addressing poverty.

Women remain biggest losers in the Taita-Taveta mines

By ANTHONY KITIMO

In the scorching sun in the mid-dle of the forest, next to Tsavo West National Park, a group of women in midst men are busy

digging up soil in search of precious stones.

The beehive of activities is in Ka-sighau, Taita-Taveta County, in an area that is inhabited by wild animals posing a risk to miners who are ready to do anything to survive. However, in January, this year, the Taita Taveta County Government barred one min-ing company from prospecting gem-stones in Kasighau. According to Sena-tor Dan Mwazo, the land in which the company wanted to mine belonged to the community. He noted that unless the people of the area were going to benefit, there was no way that the min-ing company would not be granted its license.

The miners in Kasighau are both from within and without of Taita Ta-veta County. However, they all have one agenda, the search for precious gemstones.

However, for the miners the ani-mals and politics are a side show. Al-though the possibility of a hitting pre-cious mineral remains high, due to the rudimentary methods of extraction, little will be achieved due to various challenges faced by the miners.

Taita Taveta County is home to some of the most precious and rare gemstones. There are no women who own the mines. However, a number

of women have found their way into the mines as excavators in a job that is often described as dangerous, dirty and difficult. Despite the environmental and health risks involved, the wom-en found in these mines never think of giving up. The men tend to have greater access to benefits and opportunities in the mines while women bear the social, environmental and economic impacts of the mining.

Some of the major challenges besides the harsh weather, dan-gerous, dirty and difficult work that the women have to bear, they are also faced with sexual harass-ment, gender discrimination and inferiority complex.

Indeed, the mining industry is not for the weak and lazy and that is why it’s often referred to a dirty, dangerous and difficult job.

Says Mary Mwaluma: “Most of the mining zones are owned by men. To get a chance to work in the quarry, we have to bribe them.” She explains: “Due to high poverty levels, we some-times have to sleep with them so as to get opportunity to get the precious stones”.

Mwaluma notes: “We have no op-tion since we have children to take care of and mining seems to be the only way to earn a living here.”

The deplorable working conditions are just a tip of the iceberg of what the female miners have to go through.

Mwaluma says: “After we are done

with our day mining, we are sometimes frisked in our private parts to ensure that we do not hide any precious stones in our genitalia. This really affects most women psychologically”.

Another frustration for the wom-en is that even their male colleagues are always seeking sexual favours from them.

“We are worried we might be in-fected with sexually transmitted dis-eases including HIV or even become pregnant, since most of the men do not use any protection,” she says.

Apart from sexual harassment, women in the mines are discrimi-nated and considered the weaker sex.

Due to this perception, women are not paid as well as their male counterparts.

“It is a pity that despite undergo-

ing a number of abuses we are paid half the salary compared to that of men. We are also considered second class whenever mining blocks are being allocated, men are usually al-located first then women are consid-ered whenever blocks remain,” said one of the women miners.

Though the complaints have been tabled to the Kenyan Senate Adhoc Committee on Natural Resources led by Senator Agnes Zani, very little has changed as women continue being discriminated against.

They hope that one day they will strengthen their union and champion

for their rights. Natural Resources Alliance of

Kenya, (KeNRA) has been working with women in the area in trying to address their issues through sharing of the challenges with various groups and networks.

In the mining zones, the exercise is done manually, with very little in-vestment in mining techniques as they try to excavate various precious gemstones ranging from Tsavorite, red and green garnets, ruby as well as blue sapphire, pink sapphire, green tourmalines, yellow tourmalines, rho-dolites and kyanites.

Senate Adhoc Committee on Natural Resources members led by Senator Agnes Zani during a visit to Kasighau mines, Taita-Taveta County, to see and hear how mine workers, especially women, are

treated by their employers.



Women in the dark as investors flock coal basinBy KEN NDAMBU

All is not well in Kitui County where coal has been discov-ered in the Mui Coal Basin.

A recent study, An As-sessment on the Status of Women in Mui Coal Basin shows that most resi-dents, especially women, are in the dark about the entire process and how they stand to benefit. The women find themselves in the periphery in serious issues concerning relocation, compen-sation and job opportunities as few of them attend sensitization meetings organised by the Ministry of Energy, civil society groups and some elected leaders.

Findings of the study carried by a civil society organisation in the four blocks A to D show that over 80 per cent of the population in the basin, comprising mainly women, have never participated in any coal-mining forums organised by key players in the industry. The study focused on gender dimensions and implications of coal in the basin and showed that 89.9 per cent of women will be largely affected by the mining process com-pared to that of men at 10.1 percent.

Says the report: “If the coal proj-ect was to take off today, women and other vulnerable groups will be dis-advantaged as they will not benefit fully from the resource in addition to threatening family stability as stable marriages will be at stake.”

The research conducted by Cen-tre for Governance and Development (CGD) with funding from the Cana-dian Government also revealed the growing disconnect between gazetted community liaison committee mem-bers and the community whose seri-ous concerns have not been addressed.

The report was released in June in Kitui and shows that 89.2 per cent of the respondents reached had neither heard of coal consultations’ forums or participated in any coal meetings organised by key stakeholders com-pared to 11.8 per cent who said they had attended the forums.

“Further analysis reveals that men’s participation in the project con-sultation was higher at 76.3 percent as opposed to that of women at 23.7 percent,” said Kennedy Masime Chief Executive Officer Centre for Gover-nance and Development.

According to Masime, a small per-centage of 17.40 respondents said they will participate in the coal mining ac-tivities compared to 49.80 per cent who said they were not sure while 32.90 per cent said they would not participate.

The sampled respondents were aged above 21 years, 18-21 years and fewer than 18 with above 21 being more aware of coal mining deals in the basin at 67.3 per cent. On whether the extraction phases could provide equal opportunities across gender, 50.2 per cent believed that men and women would be given equal oppor-tunities while another 48.9 percent felt otherwise indicating minimal sta-tistical disparities.

Masime said women expressed reservations about receiving equal share in cases where the husband had died while the land was still held jointly by the brothers-in-law.

“The study indicates that women are largely excluded from participat-ing in the coal exploratory stages of the sector due to marginalisation at the consultative phases, cultural barri-ers and attitudes,” explained Masime.

On anticipated socio-economic benefits, Masime noted that most of the respondents at 83.5 per cent listed job creation as a positive impact, im-provement of road network 50.1 per cent, improvement of markets for their produce 43.3 percent and com-pensation 43.2 per cent.

A bigger percentage of the respon-dents (60%) preferred to be given a leeway to buy land elsewhere for set-tlement while the rest said they would like to be settled in eco-villages not to disrupt their cultural beliefs.

The respondents gave divergent views on compensation cost per acre of land with 56 per cent opting to be paid between KSh60,000 and KSh700,000 while 27 percent settled on KSh2 million per acre.

Masime stressed the need for gen-der-aware community development platforms to ensure that accrued reve-nue on the mining proceeds becomes a significant avenue for empower-ment especially among women.

He urged the county government to undertake civic education to clar-ify existing policies, laws and regula-tions to safeguard the interests of the community.

The findings are a replica of life

testimony of most women who have attended mineral extractive industry forums in Kitui town where they ex-pressed fear of separating with their husbands if the compensation deals were not properly handled.

“We have seen elsewhere where some people have been relocated to pave way for mining and men have run away with the money leaving their wives and children languish-ing in poverty. We don’t want this to happen in Mui,” said Brenda Mutia, during a recent seminar organised by United Nations Development Pro-gramme (UNDP) in Kitui town.

Mutia is of the opinion that com-pensation funds should be shared between three parties, husband, wife and children. However, this was bit-terly opposed by most male partici-pants who said it would lead to direct conflict and disorientation.

According to Ruth Mutunga, spous-es and their children should first be taken for counselling sessions before the compensation funds are released.

“When we talk of the family, we

mean man, wife and children who are key beneficiaries of the compensation kitty and one party cannot claim to represent others as this is where the problem starts,” she said.

Mutunga noted that women started being kept off right from the formation of the liaison community committees as the gender rule was not observed.

“The issue of compensation should be handled soberly as it is not only sensitive, but can also lead to mar-ginalisation of the community as it can easily affect the family institution already in disarray due to social fac-tors,” said Dr Temi Mutia, a UNDP Consultant.

Mutia noted that although coal mining could be a blessing to the com-munity, if not checked it can have far reaching consequences as the issue of compensation and relocation has not been adequately addressed. According to Mutia, contents of the yet to be signed addendum put in place after the com-munity objected the Benefits Sharing Agreement (BSA) should be made pub-

lic for the residents to make a decision. “We are being told that coal min-

ing will start anytime but the com-munity is not in the know of what is contained in the addendum that out-lines its stake in the mining process,” noted Mutia.

As confusion reigns in the multi-billion project, it has emerged that residents might wait longer for the project due to a stand-off between the investor, Fenxi Coal Mining Compa-ny, and a local company which has a 30 percent stake.

Kitui County Executive for Envi-ronment and Minerals Investment, George Mulatya, said that the project is dogged by problems pitting the in-vestor against the local Great Lakes Company over payment of some fees. “I can confirm to you that the national government has written to the Chi-nese government complaining about the investor and if there is no positive response, chances are that the conces-sion might be cancelled and another investor sought,” Mulatya told a min-eral mining forum held in Kitui.

From top: Panoramic view of limestone-rich Ngaie hills in Kitui County, seen from a distance. Residents of Mui coal basin listen to proceedings during coal mining forum held in a Kitui Hotel.

Pictures: Charles Muasya and John Syengo



Deafening silence hangs over the Mui Coal mining project By JOHN SYENGO

Four years after signing a multi-billion shillings coal-mining deal in Kitui County, the Chinese firm has little to

show on the ground.Expectations were very high that

with the Fenxi Mining Industry Lim-ited of China being awarded conces-sion by the Ministry of Energy, the firm would move with speed to the site and by now machines would be roaring in zeal as they extracted coal.

However, nothing visible can be seen and thousands of unemployed youth who were promised jobs, busi-nesses and other developments are at a loss.

Even the residents, farmers and traders in the area who had been told to expect compensation for their land are still in the dark.

The coal-mining concession for Blocks C and D of the Mui Coal Basin in Kitui County was signed between the Chinese firm and Kenya Govern-ment in 2011 and since then there has only been talk, talk and more talk about it.

On the ground, inside the coal basin, the only indicator that the min-ing of the KSh3.4 trillion coal would be kicking off some time in the 500 square kilometre Mui Coal Basin is the land adjudication process that is on-going.

However, even as the adjudication gets underway, it is not clear when the other processes would be undertaken to pave way for coal mining in Blocks C and D of the Mui Coal Basin. The coal mining process seems to have been dogged by a myriad of hiccups from the word go.

Soon after the concession was signed, the then Cabinet Minister for Water Charity Ngilu and Mutitu MP Kiema Kilonzo spiritedly opposed the contract award dismissing Fenxi Min-ing Industry Company as “a briefcase outfit” that did not have the capacity to mine the massive coal deposits.

The agreement was signed at a co-lourful ceremony held at the Mwingi Town Stadium. The now suspended En-ergy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir signed on behalf of the Kenya government while Fenxi Mining Industry Limited Vice Chairman Yang Wusheng represented the firm.

However, even as the agreement was being signed, there were clear signs that something was amiss be-cause the chairman of the Blocks C and D Community Liaison Commit-tee and Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Chair Eric Mutua and his team gave the ceremony a wide berth and in-stead lobbied local leaders not to allow coal mining to kick off until an addendum to the agreement was included.

It was to emerge later that Mutua and his team were not amused by the hurried signing of the agreement as there were pertinent issues they wanted included. The team lobbied local leaders not to allow coal mining to kick off until an addendum to the agreement was included.

The push for the addendum has thrown mining plans into a quagmire since demands being made by Kitui leaders including the Governor Julius Malombe and Senator David Musila as well as the local MP Joe Mutambu are viewed as untenable by Fenxi Min-ing Industry Limited.

During a visit to Kitui by the Sen-

ate committee on Mining chaired by Gideon Moi, Malombe and Musila were categorical that coal mining in the Blocks C and D of the Mui Coal Basin would not be allowed until the residents’ interests were captured through an addendum to the Decem-ber 23, 2013 agreement.

On his part, Mutambu in whose jurisdiction lies Blocks C and D of the Coal Basin, says Fenxi Mining Indus-try Limited risks losing the conces-sion to mine coal. He has threatened to seek revocation of the contract.

Kitui County Mineral Develop-ment Executive Member George Mulatya said in an interview that the Coal mining projects in Blocks ‘C and D’ have delayed. He said among other things “there has erupted a misun-derstanding between Fenxi Company and its Kenyan partner”.

“Part of the delay in the kick off the coal mining had been caused by dif-ferences between the Chinese Fenxi Company and the local partner in Ke-nya. It is a serious issue that has even involved the Chinese government for a solution,” said Mulatya during an in-terview in his office.

He explained: “The mother coun-try of the concessioner had been involved in a bid to unlock the stale-mate. If it does not work then we will

find a way forward.” said Mulatya He said Mui Coal Basin residents

have not been getting adequate in-formation on the coal project from the national government and have largely remained in the dark. Howev-er, Mulatya said his department was keen to communicate to residents all information they will come across.

The Kitui County Assembly Mem-ber for Mui, Musee Mulongo, said the coal mining project in Blocks C and D had become “one very big circus”.

He said since talk of the kick off the mining began a few years ago, area residents have been demoralized and confused.

“What has been happening is quite unsettling for my people. They were initially told not to carry out any de-velopment projects on their plots of

land as they would be relocated else-where. Years down the line they are

still waiting and nothing is happen-ing,” Mulongo said.


From top: MP for Kitui Central Joe Mutambu, the LSK chairman Eric

Mutua and the Chief Geologist in the Ministry of Energy and

Petroleum Joseph Ndolo when they toured the Mui Coal Basin

last year. Suspended Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Davis

Chirchir (left) and Fenxi Mining Industry Limited Vice Chairman Yang Wusheng after signing the agreement at the Mwingi Town

Stadium. Kitui Senator David Musila addressing the Kitui County

Assembly. Pictures: Charles Muasya & John Syengo


Titanium mining company brings fruits of

joy to Kwale residentsBy ROBERT NYAGAH

Villagers and small-scale fe-male traders in Diani area are benefiting from the fruits of titanium mining in

Kwale County through corporate social responsibility programmes.

Initially, the residents of Kwale County among them traders who suf-fered loss of land when mining of the mineral started viewed the minerals as the reason behind their being denied land through eviction and low com-pensation.

Today, however the extracting firm Base Titanium has transformed the lives of villagers, and especially women and children, who have been enjoying easy access to markets for their produce, free clean water supply for use in their homes, health services in a modern health facility, second-ary school education and tarmacked roads.

“We lost our land and were only given very little money in form of com-pensation” says Fatma Hadija noting that the low compensation made people generally hate titanium and for many years most of them were of the opinion that the entire project should be aban-doned.

Only a few women work in the ti-tanium industry directly while many women-headed families lost land and were displaced as the international Canadian firm launched the first ex-ploration for the mineral, today some benefits are filtering through.

For instance, Hadija, a resident of Maumba in Kwale County, used to sell fruits and chicken to hotel establish-ments in Diani.

Hadija would deliver her produce to customers in a market overwhelmed by other traders where seasonal tourist

fluctuations made business tough and profits low.

However, in 2013 a key buying cen-tre was created in a package between Africa Eco Safari, a catering firm and Base Titanium, a mining company which exploits mineral deposits in the region.

Once a week, the traders domi-nated by the women market their merchandise to the caterer who sup-plies food to workers at the mining site. Hotel owners are also invited to buy their supplies.

“We can confess that although we as women have no direct link to issues of titanium and its mining, we are happy to earn from the sale of our produce to the leading caterer of the titanium firm” says Halima Mwalimu, a foodstuff trader.

Industries can transform a region and its people, admits Halima, who says the income has been driving Kwale County’s small scale trade where wom-en are key beneficiaries.

“Each week I am able to earn more than KSh4,000 in profits from the sale of fruits and vegetables to the Africa Eco Safari and this means I am earn-ing money from titanium, even if I am not a direct stakeholder in the extrac-tive mineral industry” says Mwanai-sha Omar, another supplier who con-siders her monthly income a success.

The presence of the mining com-pany has seen sectors such as poultry farming grow as well as others that are mainly controlled by women.

Traders who talked to Reject had no resentment towards Base Titanium as they confessed that huge amounts of their products go into feeding workers in the titanium firm.

“I have realized that many families are now rearing both exotic and indig-enous chicken which they sell to the

catering firm,” says Joyce Mutuku, a poultry farmer who ensures that de-mand for chicken to the catering firm is met. The women farmers mobilise one another to supply to the firm as a group.

“We no longer complain over the takeover of huge chunks of land for the titanium mining because they widely involve themselves in marketing of foodstuffs to the catering firm,” ex-plains Mutuku whose profit goes upto KSh.4,500 per week.

Mutuku explains: “Since the cen-tre was set up I have been expanding my chicken and fruit sales and I am happy.”

Availability of market for local produce has changed things for the community because initially many lacked a place to sell their products.

The initiative has also benefited the catering company by cutting costs. “Most of the hoteliers in the South Coast have been using farm produce sourced from Kongowea Market in

Mombasa. Here, we are buying the pro-duce from farmers at prevailing prices,” says Anwar Asad, Managing Director Africa Eco Safaris.

According to Asad, his firm buys groceries worth more than KSh.120,000 every week.

Base Titanium has also opened the Magaoni Health Centre in Maumba Village where residents get health ser-vices for free. Before the establishment of the health centre, Mwanaisha Salim would travel to Msambweni, a distance of about 15 kilometres to access health-care. Today she is happy that health services have been brought closer home courtesy of titanium mining in the County.

“In the past I would take hours to reach a health facility in Msambweni. Then I would be too tired that after treatment at times I just fell asleep on the verandah, too exhausted to travel back home,” explains Mwanaisha.

She adds: “It was terrible. I would take a nap and by the time I woke up it

would be four o’clock. At times I would stay at home if I did not have money and use a cocktail of herbs to treat dis-eases such as malaria.”

Mwanaisha says: “Today I just walk in when I am sick and get treatment free of charge. I don’t need to travel since my home is just a few metres from the health facility.”

Base Titanium has further spon-sored a water project which supplies the entire village with clean tap water. “The problem of water for domestic use has become a thing of the past be-cause water taps dot the entire village and are located at strategic points.”

The company has also built a new secondary school and a community buying centre within the short period that it has been at the site.

“With a 13-year mining lease, we are already thinking ahead on the kind of projects that will benefit the community,” says Colin Forbes, Gen-eral Manager for Environment and Community Affairs.

A small-scale vegetable farmer and trader in Diani area in Kwale County, Jane Mwamburi, supplies foodstuffs to a company linked to Base Titanium which extracts the mineral from the County for

export overseas. Many women like her have benefited from their partnership with titanium mining firm. Picture: Robert Nyagah

Slum school excels in sports despite oddsBy MARY MWENDWA

In the shanty dusty and crowded narrow paths of Mathare Valley, in Nairobi, lies a school that has de-fied odds and shines in sports and

academics. It is located 5Km from the city

centre of Nairobi, you are likely to meet the happy and energetic pupils of Codman Academy, a complimen-tary or non-formal school based in the heart of Mathare Slums.

Dressed in green and white boxes dresses, grey shorts and green sweaters, ambience of children playing fills the air next to the temporary iron-sheet build-ings.

With no proper playground the stu-dents wear a sense of hope in their faces.

I meet two jovial boys holding hands and I ask for the head teacher’s office, they lead me as we strike a conversation on their education, one says ,”sisi tuko class eight na hatuoni tukifunga, tutaku-wa tukisoma .”we are candidates and we dont think we will close for holidays,we will be busy preparing for exams.

A jovial Benjamin Mutisya, found-er of the Codman schools, welcomes me and starts narrating how despite the challenges the pupils face back at home, they are able to excel in sports and class

work too. Trophies nicely displayed in his office reflect the hard work and de-termination of his students.

‘’I saw the urgency of education in this setting, I was a teacher initially, resigned and opted to start a school that would help tap into the potential and quest the children have for educa-tion. We have very few schools owned by government in slums and therefor without schools like ours many chil-dren will not access even basic educa-tion,’’ says the administrator.

Indeed, over 2.6 million children at-tending low-cost schools in slums face a challenge after the Ministry of Educa-tion recently released tough guidelines requiring that at least 50 per cent of the teachers in the schools must have a gov-ernment recognised certificate and be registered by the Teachers Service Com-mission.

A tough huddle for schools like Codman and others in the infor-mal settlements like Mathare, Kibera among others.

Mutisya says:”Lack of basic facilities like food, clothing and proper shelter is the biggest challenge many of the children face. Many of the pupils come from single parent families and it is a struggle for them to survive. In this school we charge very minimal fees and

we provide lunch at very low cost, but we still have a huge number of pupils who cannot pay for that. This stretches us financially because we have to feed and retain them in school despite the circumstances. We charge Sh.500 per child per month and Sh.10 for lunch per day. This is hard for many parents to af-ford and yet we need to run the school and pay workers and teachers.”

The school stands on rented prem-ises has to struggle with many challeng-es to see children get education. They buy water and also they have to retain children in class longer to help them to interact with dangerous situations like drug abuse, alcoholism and other forms of abuse within the slum.

“It is a noble task and challenging at the same time, but when we see these pupils excel in sport we get motivated. This year we emerged top at district lev-el in football and other ball games where our pupils performed very well.’’

Through sports some pupils get scholarships, especially those in the secondary section to join other schools which have better facilities and play for them. Several schoolgirls and boys have benefited from scholarships which were awarded to them for their outstanding performance in sports.

The first KCPE class performed

well by having 377 marks as the highest score out of the 500.

Samuel Malilia, head teacher of Cod-man primary school, says the challenges are many yet the quest for education is high.

”The biggest challenge is payment of school fees, many parents cannot afford and we have to look for ways to get that money and retain children in school. There are also many dangers out there, we are always worried when the children get out of school. It is not a safe environ-ment for children, here in slums yet they have nowhere else they call home. We

have clubs for counseling where many issues like sexual violence are addressed to equip the children with knowledge on how to report and handle such cases.’’

According to the head teacher, most pupils are happier in school than at home.”When we send them for fees they refuse to go and hang around the compound, that shows us how much they appreciate school and they want to change their lives through education.”

The school started with twenty stu-dents and now has 120 pupils and 100 students in high school and has 17 teachers who include four volunteers.

Pupils of Codman Academy return to class after playing during break time. Picture: Mary Mwendwa



Kenyans learnt many lessons from Obama visit

By HENry oWINo

History was made in Kenya as a sitting US President visited the country for the first time. Kenya is President Barack

Obama’s father homeland where some of his extended family members live.

Kenyans will forever remember this day as an important day in the history of the country. Babies born during the three-day visit in various hospitals around the country were named either after the Presi-dent or his wife and daughters, depending on gender and preference.

Parents said they would not want to forget the big day for the rest of their lives by naming their children after him. The name Obama in local dialect means a man of the people or simply a finding favors from people or homestead.

Critics admitted that his speech criti-cally leaves one to say: “Your past does not define your future but shapes/prepares you for it”. President Obama comes from humble background but defied all odds and made it to the White House.

President Obama invited all his ex-tended family members living in Kenya and dined with them in a Five Star hotel in Nairobi. This was another show of humility despite being the sitting US President.

President Obama, the 44th US Head of State fulfilled his promise by visiting his native land while still in office. This was another lesson learnt by Kenyans that it is always good to honor one’s promises no matter what it takes.

President Obama’s visit had plenty of lessons to be learnt by local security of-ficers.

Joseph Boinet, Inspector General of Police, had admitted that they had to work extra hard to ensure no security lapses.

Individuals who attended various events where Obama gave speeches have since then spoken highly of the leader.

For instance, Henry Maina, who at-tended the civil society meeting with Obama at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, described him as a leader who does not only engage his audience, but also easily connects with a majority of Kenyans.

Maina, who is the director of Ar-ticle 19 Eastern Africa, a human rights group, said he admired the US Presi-dent for his sharp memory and swift response to questions head on without beating round the bush hence left audi-ence convinced and satisfied.

AdmirationStella Mangera, who attended the

US President’s speech at the Safaricom Indoor Arena at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, said she ad-mired his mastery of speech delivery and his ability to captivate the audience.

“He was spectacular. Above all, he is well-informed about what happens locally. He gave us hope for a better fu-ture,” Mangera said.

Paul Mugambi, who had an opportu-nity to listen to President Obama at State House banquet, the Global Entrepre-

neurship Summit and at Kasarani, said he was impressed by the leader’s ability to easily interact with the audience.

Mugambi, who is an employee of National Assembly and a former youth leader, said President Obama’s speeches were very inspirational to young people.

Majority of Kenyans who followed his speeches through various media channels said Obama knew exactly the political, economic and social status of the country and so talked about it wisely.

“President Obama must have done thorough research on Kenya before he came. This was clearly seen on the way he tackled issues and talked about them without mincing his words,” Ezra Omondi said.

Omondi said the government had its share of praise and criticism while op-position sentiments were heard and cri-tiqued by Obama.

President Obama encouraged the youth to pursue their career in local col-leges and universities instead of strug-gling to travel overseas for the same.

“I would advise the youth and young people to exploit opportunities locally available instead of focusing on institu-tions abroad, you can still make it right here and now,” President Obama ad-vised.

He said despite his poor background in his childhood, today he is the first Ke-nyan-American US President. Therefore it doesn’t matter where one comes from

but focus and determination do.While in Ethiopia to meet Afri-

can leaders during Africa Union (AU) talks about peace in Southern Sudan, President Obama warned the leaders against clinging to power. He said none was born to become President for life no matter how good he/she may be to citizens.

President Obama explained that de-mocracy does not begin with elections and end after elections, but is about fairness and letting people exercise their rights.

“In Africa, leaders want to stay in the presidency for life, which is not right. This should not be the case regardless of how good their leadership might be,” President Obama cautioned.

He promised Kenyans to return home after his retirement after serving two terms in office which ends in No-vember 2016.

How Kibera scribe got the chance to cover Obama By REJECT CORRESPONDENT

Residents of Nairobi’s Kibera in-formal settlements were fully represented during the historic visit by US President Barack

Obama in the country last month.Pamoja FM’s news editor, Thomas

Bwire, was given the honour by the or-ganisers of the biggest story so far this year to cover the three-day event side by side with his colleagues from the main-stream local and international media houses.

Bwire, who has benefited from sev-eral trainings conducted by African Woman and Child (AWC) Feature Ser-vice, described the opportunity to cover then event live for his listeners who called in to give their views was “the best in my entire career so far”.

Pamoja FM is a community radio sta-tion based in Olympic Estate and covers the entire six villages in the biggest slum in East Africa.

According to the seasoned journal-ist, the coming of US President Barack Obama to Kenya the media was given front page treatment in all Kenyan news-papers, radio and television bulletins.

The social media was not left out the talk of town was just: “Obama! Obama! Obama!”

Within Kibera community, some shrewd businesses people grabbed the opportunity to sell US and Kenyan na-tional flags, T-shirts that went as hot cakes as Kenyans wanted to be part of the success story by keeping souvenirs to remember the momentous event in the country’s 50-plus years.

Among the journalists, anxiety was building. Three weeks earlier the US Embassy officials had sent emails to

media houses asking editors to identify respectable journalists to be part of the coverage of the first US President (sit-ting in office) to visit Kenya.

Part of the requirements were de-tails of full names as they appear on a picture national identification card, date of birth, particulars of media house and kind of outlet one works for.

“Something to note was about the type of equipment one was to bring along during the official coverage of Obama’s arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.”

Bwire filled in the required details and also shared the same information with his station manager and other members of the management team. This was to ensure they were in the loop of everything should Embassy officials call back to cross check before accreditation was issued.

Once done, Bwire and his news crew started brainstorming and researching coming up with possible story angles for their daily news slots.

As the Obama countdown neared, expectations were high all over the coun-try as the Nairobi County Government came into the spotlight by Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) over their last minute rush to ensure sanity prevailed in the city — pavements got a facelift, street lights were fixed and grass ‘forced’ to grow.

On the eve of the arrival of POTUS (President of the United States), a US Embassy email finally came through and Bwire was glad that his name was on the coveted list.

On the D-day it was all systems go as the news editor and his colleague Ken Muga left for the airport early enough as indicated by the Embassy e-mail that all journalists must arrive at JKIA by 3 pm.

Says Bwire: “We jumped into a town-bound matatu (mini bus) and once in town, we were lucky to get an airport bus in a trip that ensured we arrived on time.”

On arrival they asked one security officer to guide them to Terminal Two where all journalists were converging for

security check. This gave them a chance to meet and rub shoulders with gurus from other media outlets.

Says Bwire: “I felt privileged that I was among such a high profile of local and international journalists covering the his-toric event.”

First step was to check with the Em-bassy officials that their names were in the official register, on site were hawked eyed security details majority of whom were US secret service team who had taken over managing of all security checks. Nothing was left to chance

There were several security checks between 5.30 pm and 7.00 pm. The journalists and their equipment were taken through vigorous physical and electronic checks. Sniffer dogs also screened all equipment.

At 7 pm they went through the last security check before they were finally cleared and each handed small badges written “White House Press”.

Once in the lobby at Terminal Two,

they had to wait for 20 minutes before they were let out on the runaway and di-rected to the press restricted access area.

Recalls Bwire: “The anxiety in all of us could easily be seen as some TV crew were also live and doing their best to re-port the happenings to the rest of Kenyans and the world at large.”

He adds: “Security was much heavier at the airport with sniper officers seen manning major entry points on elevated podiums.”

A convoy of chase cars drove past their podium and they were able to get a clear view of the much hyped President Obama’s car most appropriately named “The Beast”.

Finally, touchdown was at 8.02 pm as the plane carrying the US President was directed in front of a battery of journal-ists giving them a better view: “Click! Click! from cameras as journalists took their best shots, I among them to capture this historic and memorable moments,” recalls Bwire.

Once the official plane’s doors opened, the man himself stepped out and waved and descended to meet his host, President Uhuru Kenyatta who had been joined by among others cabi-net secretaries and Auma Obama, the US President’s step-sister who captured the national attention, when she got a hearty hug from the President himself.

Once all the official protocol of signing the visitor’s book was done and time to de-part came, Auma got the rare opportunity to ride in “The Beast” with the President.

Says Bwire: “Left at the airport, we all had our field day and took all kinds of photos in front of Air Force One plane as a remembrance that one day we were present to capture this historic moment for Kenya.”

Pamoja FM News editor, Thomas Bwire, stands tall after covering the arrival of the US President Barack Obama at JKIA, last month. Behind him is Air Force One, the presidential jet.


Kenya shows talent as Obama Musical comes to town with a storm

By ODHIAMBO ORLALE

They came, sang and danced themselves lame for the love of United States President Barack Obama who visited

the country last month for the first time as Commander-in-Chief.

The cast of the Obama Dreams of a Father play did not disappoint their audience on the eve of the historic visit as they used music to tell the life story of Obama, whose father was born, raised and buried in Kogelo Vil-lage in Alego, Siaya County.

Indeed, the 45-minute presenta-tion was more than a thriller. It was awesome, to use a popular American word. The actors who doubled as sing-ers and dancers were professional and played their part very well.

They proved that indeed Kenya has talent of actors, singers, dancers and directors that is yet to be fully ex-ploited.

The musical was first staged in 2008 in Nairobi to coincide with the historic elections of the Illinois Sena-tor as the first Black President of the United States in its over 200 year his-tory.

By coincidence, a week before the premier of the Obama Musical, anoth-er Kenyan, Lupita Nyong’o, the Oscar award winner, had toured the country officially for the first time after receiv-ing the coveted award. The highlight of her visit was hosting a successful charity dinner in aid of campaigns to protect endangered elephants.

At the Obama musical, the music was upbeat and varied from scene to scene from the traditional Luo nyatiti (stringed instrument) and benga beat, to the American jazz and reggae of Ja-maica, and kept the audience literally on the edge of their seats.

During the musical, there were high moments of scenes when Obama Senior landed in the US to start his university education after benefit-ing from the airlift organised by Tom Mboya (former Constitutional Affairs Minister) and his American friends. Another scene was when Obama Se-nior met his wife and proposed to her leading to their brief union as hus-band and wife, and the birth of their son, Barack, which means blessings in Kiswahili.

The saddest scene was when the news of Obama Senior’s death was conveyed to his son, who was in the US with his mother and maternal grandparents at that time, by his step-sister, Auma, from her base in Kenya, using a landline.

Another high moment was when he married Michelle and brought her home to Kogelo to meet his grand-mother, Sarah and his siblings among other relatives.

The climax of the musical play was of Obama making a home-coming in 2006 as Senator of Illinois, with his wife and two daughters, Sasha and Malia, with the trappings of power around him.

The other was when he vied and won the US presidential polls using his slogan: “Yes We Can!” which reso-nated well with the Americans and the rest of the world, especially his Ke-

nyan compatriots.The director of the musical,

George Orido, ensured that the audi-ence was fully captivated, entertained, informed and educated about the story behind the success of Obama, through song, dance and a powerful acceptance speech by Obama on be-ing declared the 44th President of the United States following gruelling elec-tions.

The curtain raiser for the all-Ke-nyan cast was The Stars, a group of accappella musicians from the United States, who gave it an international flavour.

The premier of the musical play, dubbed Obama Dreams of a Father, at the Kenya National Theatre. The title was similar to the title of a book authored by the US President, Dreams From My Father, published a decade before his election in 2008, to make history as the first African American to lead the super power.

It was held on the eve of the his-toric visit by Obama to the country of his father’s birth, and was graced by the Chancellor of Public Affairs at the US Embassy, Michael Greenwald and by the Ford Foundation Repre-sentative for Eastern Africa, Maurice Mak’Oloo, among other dignitaries.

In their brief speeches, the envoy and the director praised the musical team for a job well done saying they, like President Obama, had a bright fu-ture in their careers and life.

Meanwhile, the director of the mu-sical, Orido, told Reject that they had a good experience staging the play saying that the first two shows were a full house.

One of the shows was attended by students from Zetech University and others from the Shangilia Mtoto Theatre and Musical Group among others. Asked for feedback, most of them said they liked the performance, learnt a lot, and it was very entertain-ing and enjoyable.

Says Orido, who also doubles as a journalist: “People bought extra tick-ets but we had to cancel the weekend shows because of the blockade of roads because of Obama’s State visit.”

On lessons learnt as a profession-al, Orido says: “Kenyans love to listen to their own stories and they showed it by their enthusiasm at the end of every show when they stayed behind to interact with the cast, take photos and engage them in conversations.”

One of the leading media houses, NTV, streamed the musical play live to reach Kenyans in the Diaspora, and to foreigners as well as part of the objective of the organisers to reach as wide an audience as possible.

Says Orido: “During the musical on Thursday evening, NTV stream-lined it live to the Diaspora who had no access. Our main reason was also to share the information with Ke-nyans and the world about Obama’s story of hope, democracy, hard work and success using his slogan ‘Yes we can.”

Looking back, Orido notes that it was worth it. It had a big and posi-tive media support and was featured on local and international media like CNN, Reuters, The Guardian and Al-

jazeera among others.However, because of the interrup-

tions due to the Obama visit, Orido

says they plan to perform the musi-cal play again in Nairobi for those who were unable to watch. They also

have plans for a regional tour in Kam-pala, Kigali, and Arusha among other towns later in the year.

The cast of Obama dance perform at the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi during historic visit of the US President to Kenya. Picture: Courtesy.


Executive Director: Arthur OkwembaEditor: Jane GodiaSub-Editors: Carolyne Oyugi, Joyce Chimbi and Odhiambo OrlaleDesigner: Noel Lumbama

Contributors: Robert Nyagah, Boniface Mulu, John Syengo, Omondi Gwengi, Miller Omega, Yusuf Amin, Henry Owino, Omar Mwalago, Charles Muasya, Musembi Nzengu, Evelyn Mutanu, Gladys Moraa, Benson Mwanga, Anthony Kitimo, Ken Ndambu, John Syengo, Thomas Bwire, Thomas Bwire and Mary Mwendwa.

Write to: [email protected]

The paper is supported by:

www.mdcafrica.org

Looming health crisis in Siaya CountyBy OMONDI GWENGI

A health crisis is looming in Siaya County’s health facilities follow-ing claims of salary delays, shortage of drugs and intimidation of health

workers by politicians.The revelation comes amid cases of health

workers, mostly employed under the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) tendering their res-ignation letters as they pursue employment in the private sector.

Investigations by Reject has revealed that the mass exodus of health workers is likely to ad-versely affect quality of health care services in the county’s public health facilities where most Kenyans go for treatment.

We also established that some of the phar-macies have run out of essential drugs such as Tuberculosis (TB) drugs and antimalarial drugs with the children and women affected the most.

Speaking to Reject on condition of anonym-ity, a health worker in Bondo has disclosed that most of the hospitals in the county are facing shortage of personnel especially nurses and laboratory technicians.

“We have health facilities with only one lab technician and this therefore brings inad-equacy in terms of service delivery especially when they don’t report to work,” he says add-ing that even the labour wards are adversely affected.

Salary delaysHe further discloses that due to the salary

delays, they have been forced to overcharge pa-tients who come to the facilities.

“Most of us have families to take care of and house rent to pay and when the salaries delay, we are forced to look for other means of sur-vival,” said the medic.

20-year-old James Onyango, a resident of Bondo is the latest victim of the dejected health workers wrath.

He says that after being diagnosed with Ma-laria, he was told to pay Sh.580 for anti malaria and pain killer drugs at one of the government hospital.

Patients have been forced to buy prescribed medicine from private chemists due to acute shortage of drugs.

Most affected are health facilities in the is-lands and rural areas where patients are paying more for drugs at private pharmacies which are cashing in on the crisis.

In an interview with the Reject, a nurse in charge of Mageta Health Center said that the

facility experiences a huge influx of patients yet there are no drugs.

“This health facility being the only one in the island serves a huge population and the is-sue of drug shortage is leaving a trail of misery for patients in the island. This is a malaria zone and it is dangerous for the hospital to run out of the antimalarial drugs,” said Omollo.

She added, “Though authorities have at-tempted to provide free and subsidized treat-ment in health facilities, frequent stock-outs of medicines and shortage of staff have character-ized the public health sector.”

The crisis has affected the cost of accessing health care since most of the residents cannot afford the additional costs.

“It is our appeal to the county government to give us more health staff to help in delivering health services to the public that comes even as far as the neighbouring country of Uganda,” she

appealed.The crisis recently saw Gem MP Jakoyo

Midiwo calling on the Siaya County Govern-ment to take necessary steps in preventing the looming crisis.

Jakoyo told Governor Cornel Rasanga to employ more staff failure to which he has threatened to mobilize locals not to pay taxes.

“There is need for the county government to come out and clear on how they intend to em-ploy more health staff and how they are going to be paid,” said Jakoyo.

However, the county government is set to absorb five specialist doctors into higher job groups as a strategy to retain them in the county.

“We consulted with health stakeholders and resolved to move them to higher job groups to not only block other health specialists with intention of seeking transfers but also attract

highly trained personnel into the county,” said County Executive Committee member in charge of health Dr. Edward Owila.

Owila said that the county administration is currently recruiting 42 health workers to re-place others who have since left the county for greener pastures.

“We have fixed some funds in the supple-mentary budget with which if approved we would be able to recruit 50 more health person-nel,” said Owila.

Siaya County Chief Officer in charge of Health Dr. Jalan’go Midiwo says that there is no need for alarm as the government was working hard to make primary medicines available.

“The shortage can be blamed on delays in the procurement and distribution of drugs. We are going to ensure that the issue is ad-dressed immediately in all the county hospi-tals,” Midiwo said.

A nurse walks to work as members of the public leave Siaya County Referral Hospital where staff morale has been at rock bottom because of delayed salaries and lack of drugs. Picture: Omondi Gwengi

Boy with colorectal cancer appeals for help By OMONDI GWENGI

A 16-year-old boy in Ugwena Village, Pala Sub-location in Siaya County is crying for medical assistance after he developed a medical complica-

tion about four months ago. Kevin Okoth, who has temporarily dropped

out of school, suffers from a condition referred to in medical terms as colorectal cancer.

The boy’s father, George Otieno, says his first born child had complained of abdominal

pain prompting them to take him to the hos-pital.

“We took him to Siaya County Referral Hospital where he was operated and doctors diagnosed him with colorectal cancer. Since then, he has been using colostomy bags to ex-crete,” explains Otieno.

Colon cancer is cancer of the large intestine (colon), the lower part of the digestive system. Rectal cancer is cancer of the last several inch-es of the colon. Together, they are referred to as colorectal cancers.

Otieno, who has been moving from one hospital to another says efforts to get medical assistance for his son has been a big challenge.

He has been depending on well-wishers and says that most of the hospitals he has been going to are too expensive for him to afford.

Otieno says that his son’s condition has drained most of the resources they had at their disposal for their love for him as they also struggle to maintain him in school.

“Other than meeting the medical expenses,

what now drains me most is the colostomy bag, which he uses at least 8 per day,” says Oti-eno, a father of five, adding that each bag costs KSh50.

A small scale farmer, Otieno also takes care of his 80-year-old sick father and has no mon-ey to pay for their child’s treatment. He is now appealing to well-wishers for help.

“I would like to take him back to school but my worry is how the teachers and his fellow pupils will handle him due to his delicate con-dition,” says Otieno (0700028729).

Women venture into sand harvesting mines in Kilifi County

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