Mining and Blue Economy CS Hassan Joho says he will engage Parliament for a change of laws that will henceforth require mining firms to pay royalties before they curt the minerals away.
The law requires that a proportion of the value of minerals is paid to the government as mineral royalty shared between the national and county governments and the local community in the ratio of 70:20:10 respectively.
Joho said miners have been taking advantage of a loophole in the law to sale off the minerals and use the proceeds to invest before coming back years later to pay the royalties.
“We have no business entertaining someone who does not want to pay the rightful dues for the Kenyan people and the Kenyan government. We will make a new law where once you are paid, you pay the county, pay the community and pay the government there and then,” he said.
“The government and the people of Kenya are not in the business of waiting, money has value,” he added.
Joho was speaking Friday in Taita Taveta county during a stakeholder engagement with leaders and community representatives of Kishushe Cooperative Ranch and residents of Kishushe to discuss matters relating to the mining sector.
He said he has adopted an open-door policy that encourages close interaction with people at all levels, something he said was important in understanding community needs and cultivating amicable ways of addressing challenges leading to quality service delivery.
“During the occasion, I presented a cheque of Sh10 million from Samruddha Resources Kenya Limited as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. I also toured the Voi Gemstone, Value Addition and Marketing Centre where I met members and officials of the Mbulia Land Committee,” Joho said.
During the stakeholder engagement, Joho issued a directive to mining officials at the county level to ensure that no mining firm is allowed to pledge to pay royalties after the sale of minerals.
He said henceforth, all dues owed to the county, the national government and the local communities must be paid beforehand.
The CS said the tradition where miners use mineral sales to invest abroad and return to pay royalties after making huge sums of money in interest is long gone.
“This is the last time I want to hear someone has pledged on top of another. This is also the last time I want to hear that someone has pledged and does not have the consent of the local community to mine,” he said.
“I’m saying this because you are denying us as a country to gainfully benefit from minerals. I have been given this job and I must do it. Mining has a huge opportunity; this country has a huge debt, one way we can save ourselves if by using our minerals to make money.”
