Mining
The Deputy President’s spouse Pastor Dorcas Rigathi has asked parents within the gold mining areas to restrain their children from working in the mines to help combat child labour within the country. Speaking at Osiri primary school in Nyatike Sub County of Migoria County, where she issued certificates to registered miners, Pastor Dorcas said children must be taken to school for the sake of their future life.
She also handed over various working gears to selected miners that included helmets and reflector jackets and, a brand new vehicle to the department of mining in Migori County. The deputy President’s spouse pointed out that education is the best investment parents can offer their children, instead of sending them to do menial works, some of which are dangerous to their lives.
Pastor Dorcas said the boy-child must be protected and jealously guarded well like the Girl-Child, saying the Kenyan boy-child face a lot of challenges that must be addressed urgently. “The boy child must be protected from peer pressure, drugs and other hard substances that spoil their life,” she told the gathering.
She said apart from the boy-child, she was also looking forward to promoting the lives of orphans, widows and the physically challenged people through giving them the necessary assistance.
Concerning artisanal mining, she noted the Kenya Kwanza government’s effort to ensure that the mining sector is grown and artisanal miners offered good prices for their mineral and supplied with protective gears to save them from the dangers that they always exposed to while prospecting for the precious minerals.
The government, she said, has constructed the gold refinery pant in Kakamega, a facility that would ensure that artisanal miners reap well from their work. Mining Permanent Secretary (PS) Elijah Mwangi who accompanied Pastor Dorcas said mining is a business venture that need to be promoted at all cost.
Mwangi said artisanal miners would be allowed to work in a conducive environment by issuing them with permits and licenses to enable them do their work freely.
The PS said in Migori alone, some 23 mining groups have already been formalized to operate legally, adding that the government has initiated a programme that is geared to bring registration and issuing of permits and licenses closer to the miners.
“The state has also acquired gadgets worth over Sh600m to help determine the correct amount of money they would get from buyers of their minerals,” he announced. He regretted that currently gold and copper miners are losing a lot in the hands of middlemen who under pay them their minerals.
The Deputy President’s spouse Pastor Dorcas Rigathi and Mining PS Elijah Mwangi handing over one of the vehicles given to the mining department in Migori county at Osiri Matanda Mines. Photos by Polycarp Ochieng.
At the same time, the state wants to delve in a programme to collect data of all places where gold is extracted and how much is extracted per day for the sake of developing the region. Migori County Executive Committee (CEC) member in charge of environment Caleb Opondi asked the government to assist the local miners modernize their activities by giving them the right tools.
He also urged that the controversial 6000-acre land in Nyatike gazetted as forest land, be returned to the local community. The chairman of the county artisanal miners and small business groups, Kepha Ojuka, appealed to the government to gazette the Migori artisanal Committee that has taken years to be in place to enable it start work to promote mining in the region.
He said there are over 20,000 artisanal miners in Migori who eke their living from extracting gold and copper. Earlier on, the Mining PS paid a courtesy on the Migori Governor Ochilo Ayacko where he announced that government has vigorously started registration and licensing artisanal miners in the County.