The national government has revoked 67 licences of miners in Turkana, the Mining Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya has said.
The ministry has pledged to deal firmly with illegal mining, not just in Turkana but across the country. Illegal investors doing mining without following procedure will have their mines closed, the CS said.
Mvurya said there are miners who are doing mining at small-scale level like in Naduat, Turkana West subcounty, who will be enlisted in a cooperative society.
“We came here to announce a new revolution. We came here to announce the reforms, and I'm glad that we've agreed we'll work closely with the county government even on matters licensing," he said.
“We've already gazetted and trained the additional mining committee for Turkana, which will be giving a permit for small-scale mining activities including quarrying, and all this we are doing so that we can harness the potential of the resources here.”
On maritime fisheries and blue economy, he said Lake Turkana currently produces 30,000 metric tonnes of fish, valued at around Sh2 billion.
The CS said they want to work with leaders, the county government and beach management units to ensure that potential moves from Sh2 billion to Sh10 billion.
“And it is because of that objective that we are going to do a number of interventions in Lake Turkana. In Lake Turkana we will do two landing sites. We will spend Sh300 million to do two landing sites,” Mvurya said.
“We have also launched a patrol boat valued at Sh50 million, which is already on the ground. And we have also trained coxswains here in the lake, and we'll do more. We have our KMA team that we came with because we want to increase and strengthen the presence of Kenya Maritime Authority around Lake Turkana.”
He said they have set up an office in Lodwar which will be sending more staff to ensure there are interventions in the lake.
Mvurya said they have finalised a bilateral arrangement with the government of Netherlands to spend more money on issues of processing of fish in the lake.
“I am happy to say that we will be training 1,000 coxswains around Lake Turkana, and they will not pay anything. We will do that for free as part of enhancing maritime security,” he said.
“So we will be training them, and we are not training graduates. So we will train 1,000 of those who are already doing the work in Lake Turkana to ensure that they have basics of being a coxswain and also basics of safety.”
He said they will further and get 50 youth from Turkana county.
The CS will be launching a programme next month to make sure the country no longer buys life jackets from other countries.
“We want to train our youth so that they can make them here. And here in Turkana, we will get 50 youth who will also undergo training. They will not pay. They will be paid by the government so that when they come back here, they can make the life jackets for the fishermen and all those who will be using the lake."
Turkana Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai pledged his support to work closely with national government and investors to promote mining and blue economy sectors.
Mvurya was accompanied by three Permanent Secretaries
“I'm here with the three Permanent Secretaries, in the three state departments that fall within the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, and we also have our technical teams,” he said.
“And basically the reason we have come here is to announce to the nation that Turkana county has a very big potential in mining. It has also a big potential in issues of fisheries and blue economy.
“We are going to remove them from the system so that we can give room for new investors who can make application and they can apply now following the law because some of the documentation that we have seen did not meet the requirements of the law."
He said Turkana county has all the categories of minerals including gemstones, industrial and construction minerals, as well as strategic minerals.
“We have abundance of gold deposits across the county, and we also have other gemstones, ruby, which you can also find here. And that is the more reason why we sent a team here in March and they have sent us a report which we will share with the governor and the county leadership,” the CS said.
“We can still do value addition here in the county, and as a result of that we will do a mining lab here for testing and sampling. We are sending more staff. We have already purchased a new car, and we'll be sending here so that our mining team can have mobility."