Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 471920,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/471920/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "citizens of this country. This means that with time, Kenyans will be able to take over some of the technical areas and actually manage them. The other good area is that of employment. The Bill clearly states that, when it comes to employment, miners will make sure that they employ Kenyan citizens. I would also like to add--- I would plead with the Chair, who has done a very wonderful job, to make sure that he does not leave out Kenyan citizens, but considers them wherever mining is undertaken. We know in this country there are times when you talk about Kenyan citizens, and you find a Kamba like me coming from Kitui going to Turkana and being employed in Turkana where oil is being drilled oil; then it will be claimed I am a local. That is cannot be true. I think what we need to do is make sure that if a resource is found in an area like Turkana, we should make sure that the Turkanas, the people who live in that particular area, benefit from the resource. I think this will help this country and will also help us. The other area which was really of concern--- I am happy that the Committee was able to pick it; I was really getting concerned. It is the way you look at the form of this Bill; the Cabinet Secretary has so much power that it can be easily be abused. I want to salute the Committee because they were able to see that and say, instead of having all this power concentrated on an individual, it be pushed to a board. This is really one of the best practices. I think we are going in the right way. This is an international best practice where power is actually given to institutions rather than individuals. That way you are sure that power cannot be abused. The other area which I think is very important is that of the local equity. We are talking about Kenyans and the locals having a bit of shareholding in companies. This will make our people rich and will create wealth; our people will be as rich as the miners themselves. The other area which I think needs to be really considered is that of royalties. This Bill is actually very quiet on that area; it is just mentioned in passing. I think it is such an important aspect of mining and should not just be mentioned in passing. This Bill does not state anywhere how royalties will be shared. I think it is important that this is considered, because other than providing for the Government to get its share, it does not say after the Government gets its share, then what next. I think we need to state clearly how much will go to the Government, how much will go to the county government and, most importantly, how much will go to the local community where mining will take place. That is very important because we know mining activities will lead to displacement of our people; it will result in people losing the farms; it will result in people losing their land. Since people are going to be displaced it is important that once they are displaced then they benefit from whatever mining activity is taking place in their locality. That is the worry. For example we talk about Kitui county, the area with a lot of coal. One of the challenges we are facing is lack of title deeds. Our people do not have title deeds. We are wondering how they are going to be compensated when they do not have title deeds. That is why we are pleading with the Government that they need to facilitate issuance of title deeds to our people, so that when it comes to compensation, they can actually be compensated properly; we want to make sure that they are not--- As an hon. Member said, there is a lot of talk when you go down to the ground that Kenyans who are used to taking advantage of people who are ignorant have started schemes to take advantage of our people. We want to make sure that our people are not The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}