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{
    "id": 531477,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/531477/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, looking at both the morning and evening Order Papers, there is no doubt in our minds that we have executed our mandate of protecting and serving the interest of counties properly. Mineral resources are some of the greatest valuable resources our country has. For a very long time, as the Mover of this Bill mentioned, we have had several isolated and disjointed legislations relating to minerals and mining. It is important that we are now consolidating them. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you will realise that before the passage of the new Constitution, we had various sectors being governed by various legislations. Sometimes, you are unable to coordinate and tell some of the critical legislations and provisions governing those areas. One of them is the area around land. We have done very well in passing some legislation on land that has consolidated a number of the pieces of legislation around land. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we are discussing the Mining Bill. This is one of the critical legislations furthering the enhancement of participation by citizens of this country in terms of exploitation of natural resources. Most of the resources are found within counties. We have seen gaps around legislations on minerals that enabled unscrupulous businessmen and individuals to corruptly acquire parcels of land within areas that minerals existed. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you will remember the excitement that greeted the discovery of oil in this country. Members of Turkana County were very excited, singing and dancing when it was announced that oil had been discovered in Ngamia 1. Unfortunately and unknown to them, the land had been grabbed and taken three months before the announcement. All of us were wondering how the land grabber realised that oil would be discovered in Ngamia 1 in three months’ time. Later, we realised that that information could only be accessed by that particular individual through the confines and discussions within some corners within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We cannot tell how some of the individuals who occupied very senior positions within those Ministries got to acquire the land. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it was quite unfortunate for a whole community to jump into jubilation, excited and celebrating, only to realise that the land had been grabbed and was, indeed, private land. Being a Christian and knowing that God does not sleep, we are told that somehow the proceeds from that private grabbed land landed in the wrong hands. The very excited unscrupulous businessman lost everything and may have had to resort to other scandals to get back resources, but that is a story for another day. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have gold in Nandi County. There is an investor who has invested in the mining of gold within Nandi. Individuals and communities which live within and around the mining area were persuaded to sell their land, not knowing that it actually had minerals. This individual has fenced the entire area which is almost 300 acres and nobody knows what goes on there or how much gold is mined everyday. The local community always sees a helicopter landing there, picking gold and flying away. Article 64 (2) of the Constitution talks about Parliament enacting legislation to ensure that investment in property in whichever area is able to benefit the local community and their economy. People living around this mining area in Nandi have never benefited in whatever way from the deposits and mining that goes on there. When Members of the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}