Taita Taveta residents are yet to benefit from valuable minerals extracted from the region.
Deputy Governor Majala Mlagui said residents are languishing in poverty, despite sitting on tonnes of minerals.
She said companies that extract minerals in the region have neglected their corporate social responsibility.
Speaking during a meeting with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development/African Peer Review (NEPAD/APRM) in her Mwatate office, Majala asked development partners to formulate a mechanism, including the Mining Act 2016, that will review various critical laws in the country.
“We have a tendency of developing good laws but implementing them is a challenge. The Mining Act 2016 defines the benefits which are supposed to come to communities including the 70 per cent royalties to national government, 20 per cent to communities and 10 per cent to county governments, but four years later none of those benefits have come to communities,” she said.
Elias Mbau, the NEPAD/APRM director, urged governors at the Coast to lobby the national government and development partners for resource mobilisation to complete key development projects in the region.