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{
    "id": 531481,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/531481/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 453,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sang",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 907,
        "legal_name": "Stephen Kipyego Sang",
        "slug": "stephen-kipyego-sang"
    },
    "content": "Exactly, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. It is Article 66 (2). Thank you for that. One of the cardinal principles of the new Constitution is transparency. People, especially leaders, should be able to access information as to how much is being mined by the investors, so that they can ask what the contribution to the local community by that private investor is. I am excited that this Bill provides an opportunity for the national Government and county government to understand and get to know what minerals are available within their counties. This will enable us to start engaging from a point of information and knowledge on how local communities can benefit from these investments. I am excited that whereas the Mining Bill was conceived, debated and passed by the National Assembly and then transmitted to us, we are in the process of finalizing the Royalties Bill in this House, that will then be transmitted again to the National Assembly. Looking at the two Bills, they complement each other. As mentioned by a number of Senators, we need to look at the provisions in these Bills and find a way of dovetailing them, to ensure that we seal any loopholes with regard to investment in minerals. This will ensure that communities to benefit from these resources. When exploration and actual mining is done, sometimes the process causes a lot of untold damage to the environment. We should ask ourselves: How do we deal with dereliction after the minerals have been mined? We have seen investors investing in some mining sites, they do a lot of excavation and once they are done with obtaining the minerals that they were keen on, they leave the area in a state that is hazardous to the community. It is important to put in place provisions that will ensure that once mining is done, the land is reverted back to a state that is habitable to communities living around that area. I am excited that provisions within this Bill indicate that priority will also be given to communities living around these areas in terms of accessing job opportunities that are created by these processes. That is a very important provision. We hope that the responsible Members of the Committee that processed this Bill will flag out of those issues relating to the perspective of county governments with regard to mining. When we go to the Third Reading, we agree that X, Y and Z provisions in this Bill need to be realigned with the new constitutional dispensation with regard to county governments, so that they are engaged early enough. These county governments invest in these minerals and their exploitation benefit our county governments. In the benefit-sharing arrangement, and I think we may need to find a way of anchoring some of those provisions on benefit-sharing that may make references to the other Bill on royalties, in terms of that formula, we need to find a way of catering for the immediate local communities. Within Turkana County, for example, we have the communities living around Ngamia I. These are the communities who will be affected by 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."
}