Tiomin Secures Kwale Land

[Onyango Oloo]

From Mining Weekly:

www.miningweekly.co.za/?show=74005

News Today

Tiomin Secures Land for Kenya Plant[/u]

Toronto-listed Tiomin Resources yesterday confirmed the completion of tan acquisition of some 100 acres of land near the Central Dune area of the Kwale titanium project, in Kenya, necessary for the construction of the proposed gravity and mineral processing plants.

The mineral processing plant (MPP) will comprise a feed preparation circuit, rutile dry circuit and zircon wet/dry circuits and will be permanently established next to the wet plant at the Central Dune.

The MPP will be designed to receive up to 80 tph of heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) reaching an annual projected production rate of 330 000 t/y of ilmenite, 75 000 t/y of rutile and 40 000 t/y of zircon, Tiomin said in a statement.

Up to 95% of the titanium heavy minerals can be extracted using an environmentally friendly process of water, gravity, spirals and magnets.

Significant strides have also been made to resolve all remaining issues relating to the resettlement of the local farmers from the mine site.

The resettlement area, located about 20 km from the mine site, has been allocated and agreed to by all parties.

The relocation process is expected to start on schedule in mid-November, with construction expected to be underway by the end of the year.

A substantial portion of Kwale's production has been committed through letters of intent and offtake agreements with large titanium and zircon consumers.

Project financing continues to take shape as a number of multilateral agencies and international banks have indicated strong interest.

Based on the recently-updated feasibility study, production from Kwale is expected to generate pretax cash flow of over $40-million in the first six years of operation, largely deriving from the premium priced rutile (50%) and zircon (30%), with ilmenite representing 20% of sales.

Once underway, the Company's other large titanium exploration projects may be placed into development, providing the potential for substantial long term growth.

[wanyee]

On The Titanium Issue...

Unlocking the Secrets of Titanium, a “Key” that Assists Hydrogen Storage
New research may lead to better catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells -

www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/2004/bnlpr072304.htm

[wanyee]

Sorry about re-posting that old article. Accident.

But maybe it happened for a reason. The issue happens to be back on the table at present.

Meanwhile, si watu watoe maoni zao.

I'll keep you all posted. Kwaherini.

[pharlap]

To quote Mo1, " Na hiyo ni maendheleo"

[wanyee]

I definitely wouldn't call it "maendheleo"...

Kwale wants royalties for Tiomin mine - 2nd April 2006
www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmg...=1&newsid=70231

Farmers grow uneasy as time to pave way for Tiomin draws near - 11th April 2006
www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmg...39&newsid=70802

NGOs demand part in talks on mining deal - 12th April 2006
www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmg...=1&newsid=70850

---

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Kivutha Kibwana, our new Mininster for Environment and Natural Resources:

Kenya is sitting on goldmine, says report - www.netafrika.com/home/article.php?aid=202]http://www.netafrika.com/home/article.php?aid=202

Mr. Kibwana replaced Kalonzo Musyoka, who was previously in charge of the concerned ministry. It was during the latter's tenure, that the deal was actually signed (see 'The PACKAGING of a Kalonzo presidency' on a separate thread, elsewhere on this site).

See also: Africa lashes at rich nations over stalled talks - www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php...leid=1143951031

That's all for now.

---

"Two men in a burning house should not stop to argue" Ghanaian proverb.

[wanyee]

BUSINESS

States may not meet deadline on WTO talks

Story by JEFF OTIENO
Publication Date: 4/15/2006

The December 2006 deadline set for an agreement on the two most contentious issues of agricultural and industrial goods in the World Trade Organisation Talks may not be met.

Trade minister, Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, said the deadline set by the member last year might pass because of the sharp ideological differences between the developed and the developing countries.

Dr Kituyi who is the current chairman of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Trade said the continent was unhappy with the reluctance by developed countries to remove agricultural subsidies and open up markets for finished goods from poor countries.

"The speed with which the United States of America is removing subsidies and European Union opening its market is very worrying, Dr Kituyi said at the on-going AU meeting at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

On the other hand, the minister said, the EU and the US were dissatisfied with the tariff reduction of the G20 countries to make their markets accessible to goods from the world's poorest countries. The countries comprise among others Brazil, China, India, Egypt and South Africa.

He called for the re-negotiation of a new pact to guarantee an open market for Africa's exports.

Dr Kituyi's concerns came as African trade ministers vowed not to accept decisions that do not take care of the continent's farmers and industrialists as the negotiations reach their final stages. Ms Elizabeth Tankeu, the AU commissioner for Trade and Industry, said there had been lack of progress in the negotiations, because developing countries were more interested in protecting their interests and dominant position in global trade. "Africa has a right to insist that an outcome of the Doha Round negotiations that does not take adequate account of its major interests and concerns will not be acceptable," said Ms Tankeu.

The ministers resolved to speak with one voice in the WTO meeting scheduled for the end of the year. During the WTO meeting held in Hong Kong last year, the 149 members resolved to come up with a draft accord on the two contentious issues by this month.

The WTO's Doha round, was launched in 2001 with the sole aim of sustaining the global economy and pushing millions out of the poverty trap. Member states wants it wrapped by early next year.

Africa, under the AU, is trying to reach a common agreement ahead of the Geneva meeting scheduled for the end of this month to discuss the issue.

But Dr Kituyi said African countries must also work extra-hard to meet the set deadline. "At the moment the progress is slow we need to increase work hard or else we might not meet our goals," he added. Dr Kituyi decried the high turnover of African trade ministers, saying it was hampering continuity in negotiations.

Vice President Moody Awori who was the chief guest urged African countries to maintain pressure on the US to remove agricultural tariffs and EU to knock out tariff and non-tariff barriers. Mr Awori also added that developing countries with more advanced economies to equally open up their markets as agreed.

-------

www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=3&newsid=71096

[wanyee]

NEWS

WTO talks running out of time

Story by JEFF OTIENO
Publication Date: 4/17/2006

Time is running out for the current round of World Trade Organisation talks, planned to conclude by year end.

And to save them from collapse, Africa must push the United States, the European Union and the powerful developing countries to make further cuts on agricultural and industrial tariffs.

WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said the negotiations were moving at too slow a pace for meaningful agreements to be reached within the deadline.

"Things are moving, but not at the required pace for us to conclude issues by the end of the year," Mr Lamy said at the concluded African Union Trade ministers meeting at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi.

Mr Lamy flew into the country to help unblock an impending crisis between the rich and poor countries on the two controversial issues of agricultural subsides and tariffs on industrial goods.

The director-general echoed Trade minister Mukhisa Kituyi's sentiments that the 149-member organisation had the mammoth task of coming up with ways of ensuring free and fair global trade before the end of April.

Mr Lamy said it was imperative that the US makes real cuts in agricultural subsidies, while EU and Japan reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers on products from poor countries.

"Emerging economies like Brazil and India must also reduce industrial tariffs for fair trade to prevail," he added.

The WTO boss said the US, EU and emerging countries had already tabled their proposals on reduction of trade-distorting tariffs, but these were still inadequate. "They need to bring new proposals to the table, by making further cuts that can be acceptable for the majority," he added.

Speaking on Friday night, EU trade representative Karl Falkenberg defended the 25-member bloc, saying it had already made cuts on the agricultural sector. "We need to find a balance between opening markets and defining Africa's contribution that is commensurate to the concept of development," Mr Falkenberg said.

The trading bloc, he added, had made a proposal to eliminate export subsidies and moderate domestic subsidies.

Deputy US trade representative Karan Bhatia said America was committed to the current Doha Round negotiations, saying its success would improve the lives of many Africans living in poverty.

"If the Doha Round fails, it is the least developed countries that will be extremely affected," Mr Bhatia warned.

According to the WTO time-table, the Doha Round – initiated in 2000, and aimed at boosting global trade and pushing the world's poorest populations out of poverty – should be concluded by the end of the year.

However, Mr Bhatia insisted that the elimination of domestic subsidies could only be accomplished through an ambitious agreement that was fair to all.

But Mr Lamy said the member-states were entitled to protect their citizens, so long as the measures effected were fair to all.

He said the aid-for-trade concept introduced by the WTO would help African countries develop technology to meet some requirements imposed by the developed world.


www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=71202

------

Mineral wealth waiting to be tapped - Daily Nation, 18th April 2006

Story by JEFF OTIENO
Publication Date: 4/18/2006

Kenya holds large quantities of precious minerals worth billions of shillings which could spur economic growth if well exploited.

According to a recent report compiled by experts, the sector could easily contribute 20 per cent or more to the country's economic wealth if the deposits are mined.

The deposits are industrial minerals, including those for fertilisers, base and precious metals, precious and semi-precious stones, aggregates and building materials.

The report says that despite having substantial amounts of iron ore, gypsum and dimension stone, Kenya continues to import these minerals every year.

Gypsum is a colourless white mineral sometimes tinted with impurities. It is used in the manufacture of plaster, cement, paint, school chalk, glass and fertilisers. Dimension stone is used in the construction industry.

The report titled Mineral Potential Towards Wealth Creation and Employment, cites unexploited deposits of gypsum at Roka in Kilifi district, Elwak in Mandera district and several areas in Tana River district.

Iron deposits

Some deposits of iron ore are found in Homa Bay district, Jaribuni in Kilifi district, Maktau in Taita Taveta district, Ikutha in Kitui district and Marimante in Tharaka district. "There are large reserves of high quality dimension stone in the Greenstone Belt areas of Nyanza and Western provinces, various localities in the Mozambique Belt and in the Sedimentary Basin of Coast Province," the document adds.

The report, compiled over the last two years, says the ongoing exploration for coal, which is currently imported, had yielded encouraging results in Mwingi and Kitui districts, a move that can conserve a significant portion of the country's foreign exchange reserves.

It also expresses hope that oil and gas might be discovered as exploration had produced positive results.

Currently, millions of shillings are spent annually to import the products whose demand continues to rise.

Petroleum accounts for 80 per cent of the commercial energy consumed, making the exploration of an alternate source of energy urgent.

For instance, in 2003 Kenya imported 3,234,600 tonnes of petroleum compared to 2,562,200 tonnes the previous year.

The total oil import bill rose by 46.9 per cent from Sh43.9 billion in 2002 to Sh64.5 billion.

In the same year, imported crude and refined petroleum products accounted for 83.7 per cent of the total energy consumption compared to 85.2 per cent in 2002.

Exploration of oil and gas started in 1954. However, the country is yet to discover the resource in quantities that make commercial drilling feasible.

Exploratory wells

According to the document, 33 exploratory wells have so far been drilled.

"The rate of drilling one well for 18 months is considerably low compared to 40 wells for the Middle East," the report adds.

The document, launched recently by Environment minister Prof Kivutha Kibwana, says a poor land use policy has contributed to the slow pace of mineral exploration.

According to the vice-chairman of Kenya Chamber of Mines, Joseph Mbiriri, accessing land for mining is extremely difficult.

"The process of setting apart trust land and that of compulsory acquisition of private land for mining purposes is very complicated and time consuming, deterring investment in the mining sector," Mr Mbiriri says.

He argues that the Constitution ought to clearly spell out state ownership of minerals and how to compensate land owners whenever minerals are discovered in their property.

Due to hardships experienced in accessing private land, players in the mining industry now propose compulsory acquisition of private land for mining purposes be enshrined in the new Constitution, just like freedom of speech and association.

They say minerals should be vested in the hands of the State.

Many miners breathed a sigh of relief when the draft constitution, which vested mineral rights to land owners other than the State, was defeated.

"Surface rights ownership should be defined such that a mineral deposit on land can be available for extraction without undue hindrance by the owner of the land," the report says.

But this proposal will be difficult to sell, given the economic and cultural value placed on land locally.

Indeed Tiomin endured years of haggling with land owners before it got a license to mine titanium in Coast Province.

Tiomin expects to produce an annual average of 330,000 tonnes of titanium-bearing ilmenite, 77,000 tonnes of rutile and 37,000 tonnes of zircon from the mines in Kwale.

During the launch of the document, Tiomin Kenya executive vice-chairman Ben Sassoon urged the Government to formulate a mining policy, that described the limits of the activity, ownership of minerals and also spelt out how locals could benefit from the activity.

Mr Sassoon said Tiomin had met all the requirements set out by the Government for exploitation activity to commence.

Players in the industry argue that radical changes will trigger growth in the industry which has lagged behind agriculture and tourism as major foreign exchange earners.

Complaints about lack of a comprehensive law regulating import of unappreciated minerals featured prominently on the wish-list that miners presented to the Government.

According to Mr Mbiriri, imports have stunted the growth of the sector, denying the local industry opportunity to grow.

To make matters worse, importers in the developed world have already slapped new regulations on exports from developing countries.

Leading mineral importing countries now demand information on the exploitation and processing of minerals to ensure that they adhere to international standards and respect the environment on which minerals are extracted.

"Importers are often sensitive to the manner in which local minerals are mined with regard to environmental standards which are rarely adhered to by local small scale producers," the report adds.

Players in the mining industry want the Government to help them establish a financing scheme to improve mineral exploitation and processing standards so that they match international standards.

The outdated mining law crafted during the colonial era has made it difficult for miners to keep pace with the changing trends of international trade.

Mr Mbiriri says streamlining the licensing procedure to give miners long-term mining permits rather than short ones is long overdue.

Prof Kibwana says the enactment of the Minerals and Mining Bill will address these concerns. He says consultations will be done to ensure that the revised law and the new mining policy addresses the gaps, inadequacies and conflicts with other existing laws.

"These are mainly in the areas of licensing of common minerals such as building materials, physical planning and lack of incentives for mineral exploration and mining," he adds.

Miners believe the Bill will spur growth. In 2004, the mining sector recorded an increased value of mineral products of Sh8.8 billion up from Sh8.1 billion in 2003 - registering only a 0.7 per cent increase.

In the same period exports increased from Sh5 billion to Sh5.1 billion, a growth the even Prof Kibwana acknowledges is still a far cry from the industry's full potential.

The revenue comes from exploitation of silver, gold, platinum, limestone, iron, zinc lead, diatomite among others.

To boost mineral exports, Commissioner of Mines Lojomoin Biwott, says a Swedish Company, Sebimu, will prospect for gold in Migori.

In encouraging mining, Mr Biwott says, the Government will also ensure the environment is conserved.

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology has already announced it will start a new degree course on Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering later in the year.

According Dr Stephen Ngang'a, the dean of the faculty of engineering, there is need to train more mining engineers if the sector is to be developed.

All told, players in the industry will be waiting with bated breath on the outcome of the sweeping reforms promised by the Government.

They hope it will enable them exploit the minerals worth billions of shillings lying underground.


www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=71270

-----

[wanyee]

NEWS

New fears over future of mining project - Daily Nation, 21st April 2006.

There are fresh attempts to stall titanium mining in Kwale District spearheaded by 15 lobby groups that claim to represent residents of Maumba in Msambweni Division.

Despite nine years of protracted negotiations between the Government, Tiomin Kenya Limited which will mine titanium in the area and local people to determine the amount and form of compensation for those who would lose their land, the new campaign might force the multinational company to stop the project.

Lobbyists want Tiomin to raise compensation to farmers from Sh80,000 per acre and infrastructure in the new settlement put in place to "acceptable standards".

Some 399 are expected to move from Maumba-Nguluku to Bwiti. A farmer who is moving to the new area, Mr Mutinda Musau, asked: "Why are these foreigners weeping more than the bereaved?".

Those whose land has been taken are ready to move and have not complained, he said.

Former area MP Kassim Mwamzandi, who represents local farmers, described the project as godsend and told off the lobbyists. He said minerals are national assets whose exploitation should not be politicised.

Farmer James Mukeku Wambua claimed Muhuri (Muslims for Human Rights) had been given Sh10 million by a foreign country to derail the project.

He declared that local people had nothing to do with the campaign.

Kwale county council chairman Hamisi Masudi Mwazani dissociated local people from the campaigners.

He called them inciters who wanted to deny local people jobs and development opportunities.

The councillor said that the council had asked for a 30 per cent royalty from the Government once mining started and there are signs that it would get the money.

Kwale district officer Joseph Motari said it was regrettable that some activists wanted to derail the project. (KNA)


www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmg...=1&newsid=71472

-----

Is it just me, or are our 'leaders' simply incompetent?!

"The whole structure of contemporary civilization in the industrialized world is dependant on minerals. Without them there would be no skyscrapers, no cars, no ships, no typewriters, no central heating, no air-conditioning and none of the provision of running water and disposal of sewage which an industrial society takes for granted...When industry began, the necessary minerals were usually found locally, but as demand grew more and more had to be imported. The industrial revolution in Europe and America were built around the fortunate juxtaposition of iron and coal deposits (for example, at Sheffield in England, the Ruhr in Germany, and Pittsburg in the USA). As the local ore bodies became depleted, the developed natons increasingly turned to the rest of the world for their raw material needs. Imported ores were often of much better quality and most invariably of higher grade than local deposits. In Britain, for example, the grade of iron ore in the main Frodingham and Northampton iron-ore fields is no more than 27 per cent. Imported Liberian ores grades at 67 per cent metal content. In the USA not a ton of chrome has been produced since 1962, largely because domestic low-grade chemical deposits cannot compete with high-quality metallurgical grade ore imported from Southern Rhodesia. The productive capacity of the developed nations is adapting to the new situation. New metal refineries and steel plants are being sited at the coast, where there are deep-water births for the new giant ore carriers. The early self-sufficiency of the major industrial powers in essential raw materials has been dramatically transformed, and their continued prosperity is becoming more and more dependant on foreign supplies" [Lanning G. and Mueller M, 1979; Africa Undermined: A History Of The Mining Companies And The Underdevelopment Of Africa, Penguin Books Ltd (Harmondsworth, England)].
---
How many ways can you spell NEOCOLONIALISM? Therefore, what is the difference between our present 'leaders', and those who previously sold their people as slaves?

We must all ask ourselves why these Canadians have been so persistent, for all these years?

Perhaps there's a lot more that the average Kenyan does not know...

(Ref: Canada And The Kenyan Titanium-Mining Scandal: A Classic Case Of Neo-Colonialism - www.agendaafrica.com/site/en/democracy.html)

[wanyee]

Fellow Kenyans, I believe that we all know what needs to happen...


This was presented last week, to the Committee of Eminent Persons:


The CCR-Kenya
Roadmap For Constitutional Reforms Before The 2007 Elections in Kenya

Presented to

Amb. Bethuel Kiplagat,
Chairperson
Committee of Eminent Persons
Cooperative Bank House, 20th Floor
P. O. Box 10526 - 00200
Nairobi, Kenya

19th April 2006

Presentation
by Jared Buoga
(Egerton University Student)

Coordinating Organizations

· Madaraka Party of Kenya www.madaraka-kenya.org
· Youth Anti-Corruption Movement
· Progressive Youth Leadership Assembly www.kenya-pyla.org
. East African Regional Youth Network (EARYN)
· National Youth Political Advocacy Bureau
· National Youth Empowerment Council
· Youth Agenda for Peace & Development (Mombasa),
· National Movement for Good Governance


Coalition for Constitutional Reform Kenya [ccr-kenya]
p.o box 4777-00200 nairobi. kenya

18 April 2006

To the Committee of Eminent Persons

REF: Roadmap For Constitutional Reforms Before The 2007 Elections.

I] THE URGENCY OF ENACTING A NEW CONSTITUTION BEFORE 2007 ELECTIONS

We are here today because of the misguided notion that we can fix our country's woes by merely changing governments, or presidents. We are here today because of our hitherto national gullibility, whereby we hand over imperial, undemocratic, and autocratic powers to individuals, and then expect them to facilitate the reduction of those powers. In essence, we are here today because of conducting elections under the old constitution, disregarding the realities that kick in after elections, and the self interest that ensues. We end up with the same governance arrangements, and trapped in an expensive vicious cycle of lip-service, opportunism and betrayal.

The new constitution was supposed to have been enacted within 100 days of the last elections. Reverend Mutava Musyimi witnessed the signing of that famous Memorandum of Understanding, on behalf of the people. We remember the President attesting to the fact that a sound constitutional framework is not only the basis for good governance, but of absolute necessity, particularly in light of our dark economic history.

Various incidents spanning the last few years, must only serve to remind us of the urgent need, for a complete overhaul of our governing structures. At this very moment, we are engrossed in massive financial scandals, including Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing. We have also witnessed the peddling of our national heritage, the unresolved Ouko and Delamere murder-cases, escalating crime, particularly sexual offences that go unpunished, and controversial investment ventures, such as the Tiomin mining project in Kwale and the Dominion farm in Yala Swamp etc. The latter, for instance, not only highlight the dire need to revise our Investment Code, but also prompt us to establish a suitable policy framework, to facilitate transparency and accountability. Simply reviewing the Mining Bill will not suffice. As the press effectively summed it: If we had a constitutional framework that would insulate crucial national and governmental processes from the political nonsense, we would have the luxury of turning our backs on our clamouring politicians (The circus and greed for power - Daily Nation, 9th April 2006).

For the continued survival of our country as a peaceful and democratic state, Kenyans must not venture into another election without constitutional reform. The present constitution is a recipe for disaster. How can we talk about elections when we do not even have the legal framework for transfer of power?


Our election laws are flawed.

The results of a presidential election are only conclusive if there is a clear-cut winner. What happens, for example, when none of the contenders garners the required 25% of votes in five provinces, even after repeating the elections thrice? Do we start afresh, or do we bend the constitution to suit the whims of the moment?

Of greater concern is the fact that the President can only stay in office at the mercy of Members of Parliament. Section 59 empowers Parliament to remove a popularly elected president from office, by a simple majority of votes. A president-elect without a majority in Parliament will be thrown out of office on the first day that Parliament sits. Knowing how emotions run high during elections, why should we consciously risk such potential threats to national continuity?

We need a very clear definition of the role of the President, and how the chief executive is elected. We need rules governing political party membership by Parliamentarians. We need to streamline laws governing coalition governments. And we need to devolve power to the people, so that they can start living like human beings in their own country, instead of being mere pawns in a chess game of the elite, being played by the elite, for the elite.


Kenya's Democracy in Peril.

It is obvious that if Kenyans go to the next elections under the present constitution, then corruption and further erosion of democratic practices are going to continue, since the office of the presidency has immense power, which the occupant does not wish to relinquish. The East African Standard captured this perfectly in their editorial on March 11, 2006: For as long as the current Constitution remains the supreme law of the land, the President will continue to wield huge executive powers. These include the power to hire and fire ministers, permanent secretaries, top security officers and others who occupy constitutional offices. This also includes the power to control the calendar of Parliament.

Today, the president is using his immense powers to take away the rights of association. There is a danger that the present government wants to curtail multiparty democracy and take us back to the dark pre-1991 days of one--party dictatorship. Kenyans, it seems, have lost their hard-fought right to form political parties. For example, only three political parties have been registered since the present administration took over: New-KANU, a splinter of the official opposition KANU; the Orange Democratic Movement Party, registered by persons not affiliated to the coalition that galvanized the NO vote in the referendum; and NARC-Kenya, the party under which President Kibaki is expected to seek re-election.

All other parties seeking registration (including Madaraka Party), social movements, pressure groups, associations, and other organizations formed to address social issues, have been told one thing by the registrar of societies: the government has put on hold the registration of any new organizations until further notice. Kenyans are therefore supposed to proceed to the next elections only with those whom the government has approved of. Is this democracy?


II] THE CCR ROADMAP TO CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM.

The Coalition for Constitutional Reform has been formed specifically to raise citizen-awareness, to bring pressure on the government, to allow Kenyans to reform the constitution before another election. CCR is comprised of organizations and individuals, both in Kenya and abroad. We believe that the enactment of a constitution "for the people" and "by the people", before the next elections, is the only way to avert the otherwise imminent degeneration of our beloved country into political and social chaos.

Legislation that will underpin the review process.

CCR recognizes the Bomas Conference as the legitimate representation of the people of Kenya. In our opinion, therefore, there is no need for a constituent assembly or another review commission to oversee the enactment of the constitution. This very Committee of Eminent Persons can be expanded to render the process all-inclusive.

The first legislative step is for Parliament to amend Section 47, to allow for the overhaul / promulgation of the constitution. The aforementioned Constitutional Enactment Oversight Council would be the child of the amended section 47. The amended Section 47 should explicitly state that the results of the referendum automatically define the new constitution. Parliament should play its role, merely as that of legitimization, of what the people have agreed upon.

A process that will facilitate the resolution of contentious issues.

1. The first step entails three months of civic education, which can run from July 1 to
September 20, 2006. The curriculum for this exercise should be people-driven, based
on the principles of action-research and Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
The method used by the now defunct CKRC was based on the methodology that Freire
called the "empty container" approach, whereby citizens were perceived as passive
recipients of knowledge (empty containers) being filled by the "wise" civic educators.
This method is not only contemptuous and insulting to the intelligence of the people,
but renders hollow the claim that the constitutional reform process was people-driven.
The process has to be participatory if it is to be educational at all. The educator must be
ready to facilitate a discussion where citizens' views on the draft are captured before
any referendum questions are drafted.

2. CCR insists on consensus building as opposed to acrimony. Civic education should
be conducted by sectoral groups as opposed to politicians / tribal groups.

3. CCR's position is that the previous referendum should never have been a blanket YES
/ NO vote on the entire draft, but only on the contentious issues. The civic education
process will therefore enable citizens to raise any contentious issues that they might
have. Once these views are collated by November 1, 2006, a trend will emerge
showing which issues are raising the most contention. Those issues will constitute the
questions in the final national referendum on November 22, 2006, and the people will vote
specifically on them. The final draft would then be taken to Parliament, and passed
without debate by December 10, 2006. President Kibaki can present the new constitution
to Kenyans by December 31, 2006.

In closing, we wish to thank this committee for granting us the opportunity to air our views. It is our most sincere hope, that the government will support the people in facilitating the vital conclusion to the review process. Last, but certainly not least, we wish to urge all Kenyans everywhere to join hands in this worthy task.

Sincerely,

Wanyee Kinuthia
Interim Coordinator, International Secretariat
Coalition for Constitutional Reform (CCR-Kenya)
Ottawa, Canada.

Chris Kiliko Musyoka
Interim National Coordinator
Coalition for Constitutional Reform (CCR-Kenya);
Chairman, Madaraka Party of Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: [phone].

Presented by Jared Buoga (Egerton University Student).

C.C: --The people of Kenya.
--Friends of Kenya.


www.madaraka-kenya.org/Roadmap%20fo...20elections.pdf

-------------------------------

You are all welcome to join the CCR forum. To do so, please click:

[e-mail]

[kamalet]

Wanyee,

Do you agree that a simple link to the story will make your contributions better and also allow us to see your take on the issue being raised on the link?

[pharlap]

Bottomline, we have been sitting on minerals for years, feasibility studies reveal that we may be sitting on huge crude reserves. Why do we expect foreign companies to come, do the rospection, bring in machinery and basically invest billions mining and then whine when they ask for security?C'mon, we can't have it both ways...its a give and take situation. Personally, i think those guys growing mnazi's who just sit in the sun all day playing ajua, may have a chance to get riziki proper and improve their livelihood. I am sure the idle youth around the area will get something by enlisting to do basic manual work once construction begins. Instead of people whininig about what they are losing they should embrace this thing and see it as a step foward. Lets take it and run with it. After all, we will benefit in the long run. The only problem with our oil prospects, is that it may take forever to get started, that by the time we get to enjoy the benefits, the rest of the world will be using an alternative type of fuel.

[wanyee]

Kamalet: Pole. I agree.

Pharlap: Have you read through all the posts in this thread?

[pharlap]

@wanye, i was responding to the thread on people who have been "supposedy given money to derail the project". Its posible for such to happen. People do that all the time. +

[wanyee]

Vipi Pharlap?

I see that you are presently online.

Can't stay long though. Niko kazini, nikitumia "komputa ya wenyewe".

I would be happy to educate you in more detail on this controversial project. Bottom line, it is an open and shut case of neocolonialism.

Considering all the evidence over the past decade, waonaje?

[pharlap]

I am always open to learning new truths and will look foward to that with an open mind. However, i think we tend to read too much into this whole neo-colonialism/western assumption, Everything that originates from the west that is going to cost us is labelled neo-colonialist, anything that is against what we believe is labelled western, feminisn, gays, lesbians, liberal thinking, a lot of it is reffered to as western. So God knows what else we could be labelling no-colonialist and western when we may benefit in the long run. Personally, i think that old man in lamu will be better off seeing his kids work on te=he construction site than going to sell madafus at teh beach, especially after receiving a hefty compensation to retire comfortably. Think about it, life is cheap there. As for the economy, i don;t even want to go there. One thing for sure is that the economy will benefit with the mine functional as opposed t having a few huts sitting on mineral deposits.

[wanyee]

Pharlap,

I am glad that you have at least chosen to start off with an open mind.

Let's begin at my response, to your initial response...

I must ask you again:

Have you read all the posts in this thread?

Or have you simply "skimmed through" them?

[wanyee]

NEWS.

Fears over plan to drill for oil - Daily Nation, 30th April 2006

Fishermen and conservationists have expressed fear that drilling for oil off Lamu might harm the environment unless proper studies are done.

They are now demanding an environmental impact assessment before prospecting starts.

The chairman of the North Coast Fishermen and Marine Conservation Group, Mr Ali Shaibu, said fishermen had no information on the location or extent of the project.

Lack of openness, he said, had raised suspicion.

"Talk of oil deposits in the archipelago has been there for many years, yet the community has never been told what benefits they stood to gain from the multi-billion venture," he said.

There were also fears that fishing, the livelihood of many island dwellers, would be adversely affected by oil spillage and chemicals.

Mining policy

"The mining policy favours mining companies because the Government stands to gain revenue, but we would like the interests of the people to be put first as the main beneficiaries of the investment," Mr Shaibu said.

The Government recently announced that the project would start in October after signing of an agreement with a multi-national company. But residents want to be informed of the precise locations of the drilling.

Mr Shaibu said Pomboo and Sokwe are on the mainland, while initial surveys done several decades ago had revealed that there were oil deposits on the Islands around Manda, Ishakani in Kiunga, and Lamu Town.

"We are calling on the civil society and environmental lobby groups to start a campaign to sensitise the local community on the economic and social impact of a project of such magnitude.

"The Government should stop looking at the interests of the company given the license to drill oil in the area but consider the well being of the local community whose lifestyle is now threatened with disruption from the exercise," Mr Shaibu told the Nation.

Local leaders have also demanded a memorandum of understanding between the residents, the Government and the company to spell out what the local community would benefit from the deal.

Petitioned the Government

Lamu County Council chairman Omar Famau, Kiunga ward councillor Abdalla Baabad and Shella's Mohamed Athman had petitioned the Government to come clean on the deal after efforts to get information from the local administration yielded nothing.

---

Meanwhile...


Chinese firm signs deal with Tiomin - Daily Nation, 28th April 2006.

Tiomin Resources Incorporated, the company that won a license to mine titanium in Kwale district, has concluded a financing deal with a Chinese company.

Jinchuan Group limited based in China will now hold approximately 9.9 per cent of Tiomin's outstanding common shares and in return it will inject over Sh460 million in capital. In total Jinchuan Group will acquire 16,520,000 units at a price of Sh27 per unit.

Each unit consists of one common share and one-half common share purchase warrant. Each whole common share purchase warrant will be exercisable for one common share at Sh34.1 per share for a period of 15 months.

The net proceeds of the financing will be used to fund the development of Tiomin’s Kwale titanium sands project in Kenya and for general corporate purposes.

---

Can anybody argue that the Kibaki administration is not blatantly gambling with the people's resources?

The issue concerning Tiomin is yet to be resolved.

Is it now becoming clearer, why we need a new constitution?

[wanyee]

Tiomin row awakens sleeping Ramisi ghost - East African Standard, 23rd April 2006.
By Peter Thatiah

At its peak Ramisi Sugar Factory was the biggest employer in East Africa. Now lying in ignoble ruins, it would seem everybody was content to leave the sleeping giant lie — until Tiomin Resources Incorporated of Canada, through its subsidiary Tiomin Kenya, came to town.

Councillor Omar Zonga of Pongwe/Kidimu ward and the immediate former chairman of Kwale County Council, says the moment of reckoning has finally come.

No one can hope to push though the Tiomin land deal without touching on the whole land problems in Kwale and Coast Province. It is also interesting to see how the Ramisi question that the Government has ignored for the last two decades, is being forced to the fore.

When The Sunday Standard visited the factory, a meeting, comprising representatives of the former employees, was in progress. On the agenda was a move to resist the resettlement of Maumba and Nguluku (the sites of the proposed titanium mining project) landowners to Mrima Bwiti, an 11,000-acre settlement scheme hived off the 45,000 acres of Ramisi nucleus sugarcane estates.

"We view this as a deliberate provocation and dangerous exercise because nobody bothered to consult us, leave alone paying us a visit," Suleiman Abdallah Machafu, the secretary of the former workers group, told The Sunday Standard. "The whole 45,000 acres are occupied, and with good reasons. Let the District Resettlement and Compensation Committee first deal with old problems, before embarking on creating new ones," he added.

Incidentally, both the land set aside for titanium mining and the area earmarked for resettlement fall within the same locality of Kwale.

Under siege from the local leaders, conservationists and the landowners, the Canadian investor has already made some concessions, the most notable being the raising of compensation money from Sh9,000 to Sh80,000 per acre.

Still, a bevy of sinkholes lies in wait for Tiomin Kenya before titanium production can start in early 2008. Environmental Trust of Kenya, Mining Watch of Canada, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation and Amnesty International Rights and Democracy (Montreal), have ganged up to demand better treatment for the farmers, making the road even more treacherous for the firm set to invest Sh12b in the mining project.

The local county council also has a bone to pick with the Government over the Tiomin deal, accusing it of dishonesty and double standards. Councillor Omar Zonga said: "I was the Kwale County Council chairman in 2003 when we sat with the late Karisa Maitha in his capacity as Local Government minister, Newton Kulundu (Environment), Ali Mwakwere (Labour) and Abdallah Ngozi as the representative of the area MPs and made an agreement that 30 per cent of the monies remitted by the company be handed over to the council for putting up infrastructure. Now the new ministers in the same dockets have done a somersault and are insisting no laws allows for that."

He said the Government should tell them the laws it is using to collect money from Tiomin Kenya, the laws it used to let Magadi, Narok and Olkejuado county councils enjoy resources in their jurisdictions, and why Kwale County Council is an exception.

In a statement faxed to The Sunday Standard, Mr Ben Sassoon, the country vice chairman and the CEO, Tiomin Kenya, says disturbance allowances are required in cases of compulsory acquisition when the Government would come in and pay market value and a disturbance allowance for the land. "In this case we are following a willing buyer/willing seller format," he said.

Efforts to reach the area DC, Mr Muriithi Kangi, who is also the District Resettlement and Compensation Committee chairman, were fruitless. However, an official at Tiomin Kenya headquarters at Ukunda said the matter was a secret between them and the villagers. Tiomin project manager Mr Colin Forbes has admitted that the signing of the land sale agreement is being done in secret.

In addition to disturbance fee, the farmers have taken issue with the ten years they have waited for payment, demanding compensation for distress. The Environmental Trust of Kenya chairman, Mr Z K Nderu, also raises concerns over the valuation of the land, saying the land was "treated like ordinary land, yet it contains titanium".

Sassoon counters that the firm has not received any communication from any farmer that they are unhappy with the deal. The seemingly unending circus of the Tiomin deal has pitted the people of Kwale and the Government against each other on the one hand, and the leaders and interest groups against the Canadian firm on the other. Each side accuses each other of dishonesty, raising suspicions and spurring more bandying of counter-accusations.

Emerging at the base is a convoluted land distribution edifice in Coast Province. Unlike the other parts of the country where squatters are aware of their unenviable tag, "squatters" interviewed by The Sunday Standard do not believe that they are squatters in the first place, even though the Government thinks otherwise.

South coast residents are a bitter people with genuine concerns. Kikomeni location of Kwale District is one case where the community has been lurching from one misfortune to another since Independence. According to a local councillor who introduced himself as Mr Kondoo, 80 per cent of the residents are squatters "in their own land". The residents blame their woes on the collapsed Ramisi Sugar Complex and the subsequent Government inaction.

Hassan Suleiman, a resident of Mrima Bwiti of Kikomeni location, was a national trustee of Kenya Sugar Plantation Workers Union attached to Ramisi Sugar Factory. He said: "When the workers woke up one morning of July 1987 and found that the factory had closed in the night without their knowledge, their only recourse was to settle in the land as they waited for the company to settle their dues accordingly. Nineteen years down the line they are still waiting."

Amiri Omari, like the other residents of Mrima Bwiti, claims that the 11,000 acres they occupy was originally their land before the Government forcibly evicted them without any compensation to pave way for a grand expansion of the sugar-growing nucleus in 1976. "This reduced us to serfs in our own land. When the factory went under in 1987 it was only natural for us to retake what had been stolen from us," he said. Incidentally, this is the land farmers from the titanium areas of Maumba and Nguluku are to be resettled in. The farmers’ spokesman, Mr Kassim Mwamzandi, has asked the DC to evict the people living on the land earmarked for them. A section of Mrima Bwiti residents, while accusing the Maumba farmers to be squatters themselves, called for their own meeting and vowed to resist any attempts by the DC to evict them from "their" land.

In a twist, a meeting between the Maumba and Nguluku landowners committee and the District Resettlement and Compensation Committee chaired by the DC hammered a deal to treat the titanium area squatters as those with title deeds, meaning the squatters will be compensated for the land they have been squatting on. Besides the compensation, each landowner and squatter will get five and a half acres of land at Mrima Bwiti.

Hassan Suleiman’s group is up in arms against the arrangement. The group, which mainly comprises former sugar factory employees and sugarcane farmers, accuses the Government of using illegal shortcuts to pave the way for the Canadian investor. "Why is the Government dishing out our land to Maumba squatters and paying them to come?" Already the first group of farmers have signed agreements with Tiomin and received a 10 per cent down-payment. And businesses are preparing for the windfall.

---

The fall and fall of Ramisi Complex - East African Standard, 23rd April 2006.

Walking round the Ramisi Sugar Factory compound is like a tour of a city that has been hit by a high-scale earthquake. Piles of concrete rubble spread for hundreds of metres, accentuated by large pillars sticking out as if in defiant mockery.

Giant rats, baboons and monkeys fight for the wild berries growing in the compound, and a plantation of blooming cashew nut trees and coconut palms may be harvested by any passer-by.

The factory is the subject of many politicians when it comes to giving some of the juiciest promises, to woo voters. During the first three decades after Independence, the factory was vibrant. It employed more than 5,000 people. Even the Mombasa port and the tourism industry are not anywhere near its range.

My guide, Ibrahim Njoroge, was a foreman at Ramisi. Suppressing a grin as we walk through the gate, which he happily drove his Ford pick-up from 1960 to 1987, he tells me: "We were the envy of every factory in the whole of East Africa."

Now even the concrete pillars supporting the gate has trees growing on them, magnifying the surreal image of this little ghost city.

Inside we find young men busy trying to salvage every brick from the building. Eying my camera with suspicion, they warn me not to try being "smart" as it could cause me trouble. We leave them in the trenches with their hoes and mattocks.

A few metres away is another group of young men hewing plates of hard metal out of what seems to be giant tanks and carting them away into the bush. They vanish into the cashew nut forest when they see us, leaving their gas cylinder and a mobile phone behind.

"This is the remains of a diffuser," explains Njoroge, "which was fixed by the Danes in 1985 as a measure of optimising output. It covered an area of 200 square metres but as you can see only a shred is left." This is the only installation showing that the ruins were once a factory.

Suleiman Abdallah Machafu, a former superintendent at the factory, claims that the Kenyan leadership does not know that the factory is non-existent. A case in point was when the Narc leadership toured Mombasa at the height of campaigns just before the 2002 General Election and promised the residents that, if elected, they would revive the factory.

"We the residents of Kwale could only gaze in awe wondering what factory these people were talking about," he muses. But true to their word, the then vice-president Michael Wamalwa would visit the scene in early 2003 to see "what needed some touching up" only to find a flattened wasteland.

"The discovery notwithstanding, a political meeting of both sides of the political divide is not complete without invoking the Ramisi ghost," Machafu said.

Talk of "refurbishing" and "reviving" the giant facility continues unabated even when the factory is virtually nonexistent.

Founded in 1927 in a parcel of land leased out to one Henry Wood, Ramisi Sugar Factory was run by the Madhvani Group from 1947 to 1987, when it was closed. The manner in which it was closed remains a point of contention, and it would be the harbinger of a chain of events that are culminating in another row involving farmers being moved to pave the way for Tiomin.

"The company had been experiencing cash flow problems for two years. So when Madhvani Group decided to fire 2,000 employees we knew something was amiss," said Njoroge.

"When they selected only the employees who had worked for longer periods we knew it was preparation for something worse," he added.

Sylvester Otieno, another former employee, takes over: "For two years nobody had been going on leave and it was even harder for the remaining 3,000 employees. One of the Madhvanis decided to set the general manager’s office on fire, obliterating all the records."

Otieno claimed, the entire management suddenly vanished "leaving us high and dry".

"Most of us were owed more that Sh30,000 in salary arrears, leave allowances and terminal dues, a lot of money in 1987," says Hassan Kondoo.

"The money the Group owes us is more than the value of the land we occupied. If the Government is willing to look for a way of settling our grievances, then we will be happy to move out," he said.

Mr Simon Vurah, the officer on site representing the current receiver managers, Tact Consultancy, says the firm has no means to repay its debts.

"We are not managing any factory or farm for that matter," he said.

Currently, the 45,000 acres formerly under Ramisi are home to more than 2,000 families. Over the years, they have planted coconuts, cashew nuts and cassavas in the land, making the area indistinguishable from the other neighbourhoods.

"Most of the employees have since 1987 died," said Njoroge. "We are regrouping to counter the Tiomin deal and demand our dues before it is too late. In fact, we are still members of the Kenya Sugar Plantation Workers Union based in Kisumu," he added.

Unlike Muhoroni, Chemelil and Miwani sugar factories, which once faced imminent closure but the Government bailed them out, Ramisi has always been the unfortunate one. The residents are sure to hear a lot of sweet words about Ramisi during campaigns next year.

---

[pharlap]

WHy can't we just get anything right the first time in kenya? Does it have to be wrangle after wrangle even for something as simple as resettling people to make use of natural resources?

Everyone in Kenya is high, they are all high on smething.. God knows what....Things tae so long to be done!!! This kwale story has been going on for almost a decade now. As if kenyans will not benefit from the project.

Sudan has been fighting amongst itself for decades, yet now they are peacefully drilling that precious juice we call oil.... the came from nothing to overtake us. Big headed kenyans at the coast taking forever to move their behinds, constantly opposing this whole thing, mara hii, mara ile...

Yes Wanyee, i read all the posts. I am just opposed to any upuzi by kenyans who want to milk the cow dry before it has even given birth.

[wanyee]

As long as it is 'not done right', there are bound to be wrangles. Even a natural system seeks a state of equilibrium. Otherwise, as you know, there will be disorder.

The problem is very simple, and that is why this decade-old project has been marred with "mara this" and "mara that". As a matter of fact, that in itself, should serve as a very clear indicator, that there is a bit more to te tale. Si "mwenye haja huenda choo"?

Meanwhile, let us hereby consider the following:

“We need a strategy to address the real problems faced by ordinary Canadians…This strategy must constitute a clear break with past and present economic policies. It must confront the serious structural economic problems we face in an honest and creative way. It must state what needs to be done, even if the remedies outlined are not popular…And it must challenge, directly, the prevailing arguments propounded by business interests that the only way to resolve the crisis is to give private investors a completely free hand to restructure the economy according to their priorities. The purpose of an alternate strategy must be to satisfy the basic social and economic needs of ordinary Canadians, rather than to maximize the profits of wealthy investors. It must create jobs, rather than use employment as a means of undermining the wages and job security of workers. It must promote socially useful arguments, rather than speculation in finance, banking, real estate and foreign currency, no matter how profitable the latter activities are. It must focus on raising real wages and living standards, rather than sacrificing these to provide a more favorable investment climate for private capital…Fundamental to the implementation of an alternate economic strategy is the recognition that it is a mistake to give more say over economic decision making to private investors. What we need is to establish genuine public control over economic policy. This will entail new forms of involvement by – and accountability to – ordinary citizens…The corporate sector has waged a remarkably successful campaign to discredit all forms of public ownership and control. This campaign has been immeasurably assisted by the actions of business-oriented governments, who have made no attempt to explore the very real possibilities which public ownership provides for democratic control by citizens” [Daniel Drache and Duncan Cameron (eds), 1985; The Other Macdonald Report: The Consensus On Canada’s Future That The Macdonald Commission Left Out, James Lorimar & Company, Publishers (Toronto)].

---

Why has this controversial project, as we can justifiably call it, dragged on for so long? Why is the government unable to answer simple questions? Why is it all so 'mysterious'?

The answers to the above questions may have a lot to do with the fact that we have the largest unexploited reserves of titanium in the world (~10-14%) [Mineral Obsession: Inside The Canadian push to make a killing on Kenya’s titanium – Toward Freedom (online magazine), June / July 2001]. Other reports have referred to the project as being the country's largest foreign investment venture, to date. Larger than Magadi, which is 'another story' , that needs to be addressed separately:

06 February 2006
Acquisition Of Brunner Mond And Magadi Soda By Tata Chemicals Limited

Tata Chemicals Limited of India has now completed the acquisition of the Brunner Mond Group.

Tata Chemicals is part of the Tata Group, one of India's largest and most respected business conglomerates with an annual turnover of $17bn.

This new alliance brings together companies with long and proud histories to form the third largest soda ash producer in the world embracing both the major soda ash technologies - natural and synthetic. The combined output from the current Tata, Brunner Mond and Magadi plants stands at 2.6m tonnes, a figure that will rise to 3m tonnes when the project to double the capacity at Magadi Soda in Kenya comes on stream later this year.

For Tata Chemicals this transaction represents another step towards building a global soda ash business. The combined business - the third largest soda ash business in the world - will expand geographies across Europe, Asia and Africa besides strengthening the market leadership position in India. For Brunner Mond and Magadi Soda this move places us in the ownership of a committed, established industry player with a long term commitment to the development of the business. As a new combined entity we greatly welcome this move and believe that it is in the best interests of all our stakeholders be they our customers, suppliers, employees or members of the communities in which we operate.

We are now working to realise the benefits from our new ownership by maximising the mutual learning the companies can bring to each other. All three companies between them are established and expanding participants in both the soda ash and sodium bicarbonate markets with a wealth of technological and market expertise to share. They also have great experience and success in the management of change and the driving of business improvement initiatives. We have every confidence that by bringing all these strengths together in our new structure we will create an even better company with a bright and prosperous future.

Martin Keighley

MANAGING DIRECTOR (EUROPE)

www.brunnermond.com/
---

Back to Kwale...

These reserves have a tremendous economic value, much more so, considering the "catch-up effect". But it all depends on one thing - value-added secondary processing. And this is where the problem lies. This is the 'pressure-point'. We are now at the heart of the matter - unfair trade practices by 'developed countries' (please see 'States may not meet deadline on WTO talks - Daily Nation, 15th April 2006' and 'WTO talks running out of time - Daily Nation, 17th April 2006' above). According to these recent reports, "the December 2006 deadline set for an agreement on the two most contentious issues of agricultural and industrial goods in the World Trade Organisation Talks may not be met". Why? Simply because of selfishness.

Regarding value-adding secondary processing:

"The ore has to go through several stages before it is ready for sale as metal to manufacturers. After mining, the ore is milled, which usually involves crushing the different-sized lumps of ore to a smaller and more uniform size. The ore is then gorund to a powder and the mineral-bearing particles in the powdered ore are concentrated by various chemical processes. This concentrate is then smelted to produce a matte, the metal content of which is steadily improved by further smelting to remove impurities and by-products. Then the final refining processes produce the metal in different grades for sale to the manufacturers.

"Each stage in the smelting and refing process increases the value of the product and thus also the profit accruing to the mining companies. The underdeveloped countries of Africa therefore want the smelting and refining processed to be carried out locally for it is these stages which produce the highest additional value to the raw mineral and hence also the highest profit to the mining companies...Apart from anything else, a high-value mineral export will produce correspondingly higher revenue from export duties. Once again the interets of the mining companies are completely different from those of the host government.

"The international mining comnaies locate the smelting and refining plant according to the needs of their global operations, not where Africa needs them. Low-value mineral export has the advantage for the company that it will attract relatively low taxes in Africa and will also escape tarrif penalties levied by the developed countries.

"The companies want the smelting and refining processes where they can achieve the highest economies of scale, and have most control of the marketing of the fimal product. They prefer, therefore, to refine and sometimes smelt the ore as far as possible in the metropolitan centres" (Lanning G. and Mueller M, 1979; Africa Undermined: A History Of The Mining Companies And The Underdevelopment Of Africa , Penguin Books Ltd (Harmondsworth, England).

---

The following was posted by MiningWatch Canada, after the Kibaki administration 'took over':


New Kenyan Government Holds Tiomin to Account - 3rd June 2003.

The new government in Kenya is treating the Kwale titanium project with healthy suspicion.

In early March, the Kenyan High Court restrained the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) from issuing an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) licence to Tiomin Resources Inc. of Canada for its titanium mining project, pursuant to section 63 of the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act. The order remains in force until NEMA complies with section 59 of the Act which provides for public review of the Environmental Management Plan (EMP).

Mr Justice Andrew Hayanga issued the order based on a civil case filled by the Centre for Environmental Legal Research and Education (CREEL).

On April 10, 2003, Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources Hon. Prof. Wangari Maathai – former chairperson of the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya – met with mine opponents, including the Coast Mining Rights Forum. This was the first meeting of its kind, indeed of any kind, between members of civil society and the Government over the issue of titanium mining in Kwale. According to Kenyan sources, “the mood during the meeting was upbeat and for the first time, we were able to explore the issues surrounding the titanium mining, highlighting what went wrong and what needs to be done.”

All the issues that the Coast Mining Rights Forum have been raising about the mine – groundwater exploitation, the development of a shipping facility at Shimoni, economic benefits, compensation and resettlement, and rehabilitation and radiation control – were addressed. The Coast Mining Rights Forum also learned that Tiomin intends to dredge the Wasini channel, which it had previously denied. This would be necessitated by the weight of the ore to be exported.

Tiomin has not received an Environmental Impact Assessment licence. What it has received is an approval letter of its EIA, issued by the former Director General of NEMA. This situation is a result of the failure of the former Moi government to promulgate the guidelines and regulations for EIA. The Commissioner of Mines and Geology cannot therefore issue a special mining lease until Tiomin presents an EIA License issued under the not-yet existent Guidelines. The Guidelines are supposed to be gazetted and possibly debated.

As well, the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) presented by Tiomin and approved by NEMA late last year was incomplete. The EMP is part of an EIA process; what was presented was merely an EMP Report. It did not include a comprehensive action plan specifying costs, time and responsible persons for the mitigation of identified impacts. A complete EMP must be submitted prior to approval of the mining lease. The EMP would then be subjected to public scrutiny.

The government early this year sent a fact finding team headed by Prof. Wangari to visit a titanium mine in South Africa to study the activity's effect on the environment. The team was to visit the Richard’s Bay mining area, and arrangements were made to meet NGOs in South Africa who have been challenging the titanium issue there. Environment Minister Kulundu said the government wanted the ore processed in Kenya and not exported raw as had been envisaged by Tiomin. The government has also indicated that the compensation offered to relocate farmers was completely inadequate.

Two public forums will be organised to develop consensus on the issues after the team reports.

www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/Newsletter_12/New_Kenyan_Governmen

---

These forums were never held. Why?

One month later…

Just before the July 2003 parliamentary recess (in preparation for the Bomas II conference), a ministerial delegation led by then National Security Minister Chris Murungaru, visited Kwale. This followed the Canadian ambassador’s remarks, that our country risked losing his country’s investment, if we did not accept the present terms and conditions [No end in sight yet to row over titanium mining / MP’s divided over titanium mining – Daily Nation, 9th October 2003]. It is also interesting to note that the then Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, Dr. Newton Kulundu, had already stated that the project would continue, before the aforementioned delegation had even left for Kwale [Disputed Titanium mining to go on – Daily Nation, 8th October 2003]. Such a stance only serves to confirm previous reports that “senior government officials will not allow anything to stand in the project’s way” [Titanium – G21; The World’s Magazine, . This may be largely owing to the fact that “substantial progress has been made in marketing the expected production from Kwale, with letters of intent being executed for a significant portion of the future production of zircon and rutile” [Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (for third quarter and nine months, ending September 30, 2004). See also Chinese Company Eyes Mineral Deal – Daily Nation, 18th October 2005].

Many months later…

In a revealing interview featuring the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the East African Standard reported that “according to the plan, the delegation was to compile and present…findings to the government, and these were to form the basis for a decision on whether to license the company or not. The findings were to be discussed before a national consultative forum. But…just days after the trip, the government announced…that it had issued Tiomin with a mining permit. Curiously, the announcement came the same day a national forum had been organized to discuss the delegation’s findings. Everyone was taken aback, with most questioning the logic behind sending a high powered delegation to South Africa in the first place” [East Africa hails Wangari Maathai’s Peace Prize – East African Standard, 11th October 2004].

Professor Maathai has previously alleged that “Tiomin presented a doctored Environmental Impact Assessment when applying for its license” [Troubles Mount for Canadian Titanium Mine in Kenya – Environment News Service (www.ens-newswire.com), 11th April 2001]. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) preceded Professor Maathai’s claim, calling Tiomin’s EIA “incomplete and unbiased” [Kenyan Farmers Battle Mining – San Francisco Chronicle, 11th April 2000].

Professor Maathai has also stated that:

"Kenyans are getting so little from the mining that it is going to be a rip-off…the slave labour will be provided by Kenyans…the Kenyan government should have been the one to invest in the production and processing of the minerals" [Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai, in Troubles Mount for Canadian Titanium Mine in Kenya – Environment News Service (www.ens-newswire.com), 11th April 2001].

And these were Kibaki's words, specifically in reference to Kwale:

“NARC will…take measures to improve and sustain economic fundamentals…and an investment climate that will translate into rapid economic growth and employment opportunities for Kenyans. For every investment proposal, NARC will ask one fundamental question: How many jobs will it create?” [2002 Presidential Candidate Mwai Kibaki, in How Kenyans can get back on track - www.nationaudio.com, 27th November 2002].

---

Let us call a spade a spade. The ruling class has failed the people. That is why we must demand a TOTAL OVERHAUL, before another election.

Regarding Sudan: Pardon the pun, but do you really want to go there?

On second thoughts, maybe it's a good thing you brought that up:


Oil companies in developing countries.

A large body of evidence suggests that rich oil resources obstruct democracy and equitable economic growth in developing countries because of a lack of transparency, and therefore accountability, in oil revenues paid by oil companies to governments.

The human rights implications of the activities of transnational corporations (TNCs) and other business enterprises in conflict zones, “failed states” and repressive regimes have drawn increased public attention, concern and scrutiny in recent years.

The increase in oil exploration in Africa by multinational oil companies has raised the profile of the debate, questioning the oil industry's contribution to development in the South.

In some countries of Latin America there is a long history of opposition to oil exploitation, because of its serious environmental and social impacts and human rights violations.

World Bank fossil fuel finance

Academic studies, personal testimonies, and governmental data were submitted to the EIR (The Extractive Industries Review), that establish a clear correlation between a country’s reliance on oil exports and its levels of poverty, child mortality, child malnutrition, civil war, corruption, and totalitarianism.

Bank staff was unable to provide a single example during the EIR of an oil project that had alleviated poverty. Outside of the Middle East there are no examples of successful oil-based economic devel-opment, and even those countries exhibit many of the other characteristics of oil export dependency (e.g. autocracy, human rights violations). From "The winners an losers of World Bank fossil fuel finance", data analysis by Jim Vallette & Steve Kretzmann, April 2004 See pdf.

However, in a Board meeting at August 3, 2004, World Bank Management and its Board failed to respond with concrete commitments to change the way the Bank operates and ensure poverty reduction results from its investments.

"The World Bank has ignored the EIR recommendations and endorsed business as usual", said Jon Sohn of Friends of the Earth US. "The EIR called for an 'extreme energy makeover,' and the World Bank opted for a cheap pedicure. It has missed a historic opportunity to bring its lending more in line with its mission to alleviate poverty."

The World Bank refers to the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline as a model for poverty alleviation, although it is quickly becoming a model for misery. The Chadian government spent a portion of the first proceeds on military expenditures, worker's rights have been violated, people lost their livelihoods as a result of pollution, and impact mitigation plans lack proper implementation.

“Oil projects like the Chad-Cameroon pipeline generate more tears than smiles. The Bank's response to the EIR means they have not learned a single lesson from such tragedies”, added Mr Nguiffo, from Friends of the Earth.

www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/1283.html

See also:

World Bank misses historic opportunity.

Washington DC, August 3, 2004 -- The World Bank Group today refused to improve the way it operates. The Bank's Board decided to act upon only very few among many concrete steps recommended by a key report.

The Extractive Industries Review (EIR), commissioned by World Bank President James Wolfensohn, recently concluded that financial support for projects in the oil, mining and gas sectors have not led to direct poverty alleviation. The EIR made specific recommendations to improve the World Bank's policies and practices.

However, in a Board meeting today, World Bank Management and its Board failed to respond with concrete commitments to change the way the Bank operates and ensure poverty reduction results from its investments.

"The World Bank has ignored the EIR recommendations and endorsed business as usual," said Jon Sohn of Friends of the Earth US. "The EIR called for an 'extreme energy makeover,' and the World Bank opted for a cheap pedicure. It has missed a historic opportunity to bring its lending more in line with its mission to alleviate poverty."

The EIR report is a result of three years of investigation paid for by the World Bank, and initiated after Friends of the Earth addressed Mr Wolfensohn at the institution's annual meetings in 2000.

The report made many recommendations which had the broad support of civil society organizations as well as many in industry. These included respecting human rights, establishing a consent mechanism for affected communities, protecting areas of high biodiversity and ending financing for oil and coal projects. The World Bank only took some small steps in response, such as requiring revenue transparency and disclosure of information.

“The World Bank's response is a deep insult for those affected by its projects.” said Samuel Nguiffo of Friends of the Earth Cameroon. “The Bank's Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline shows why the EIR recommendations are so fundamental. The project is pregnant with as many undisclosed scandals as there is sand on the beach”.

The World Bank refers to the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline as a model for poverty alleviation, although it is quickly becoming a model for misery. The Chadian government spent a portion of the first proceeds on military expenditures, worker's rights have been violated, people lost their livelihoods as a result of pollution, and impact mitigation plans lack proper implementation.

“Oil projects like the Chad-Cameroon pipeline generate more tears than smiles. The Bank's response to the EIR means they have not learned a single lesson from such tragedies”, added Mr Nguiffo.

“The EIR provided a historic opportunity to do things better, but the World Bank dramatically failed to grab it,” said Janneke Bruil in Amsterdam .

“Billions of misspent public dollars and sixty years of outcries by people around the world have not been enough. What more does it take?” Friends of the Earth International --the world's largest grassroots environmental federation with 68 national member groups in as many countries and more than one million individual members-- is strongly committed to non-violence.

www.foei.org/media/2004/0803.html


N.B: We must also be wary of the Chinese Communist Party...

“Another set of similarly alarming statements recently came to light, in this case attributed to China’s Minister of National Defense, Chi Haotian. Chi’s declarations even surpass scenarios described by U.S security hawks, giving new credibility to the ‘China threat’ theory, as it’s called. The statements, which appeared in a speech transcript that apparently was never supposed to leave China, described an eventual need to ‘depopulate’ the United States (even if it meant Chinese-Americans) with biological weapons so as to allow China to colonize North America. The takeover would solve China’s natural resource crisis and usher in ‘a Chinese century’, Chi claimed” [Seeing Red: China Threatens U.S with Nuclear War - The Epoch Times (Special Edition: Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, 28th October - 3rd November 2005. See also Warning About Investment in China: Former senior diplomat cautions Western businesses – Ibid].

Incidentally, have you all heard of the torture and prosecution of Falun Gong adherents in China, whereby bodily organs are removed from live victims, and sold on the black market? The Chinese government is unable to defend itself against mounting evidence. Considering Hu Jintao's recent visit to Kenya, we must now insist on being informed on the specifics of the various agreements, that the Kibaki administration is getting us and our children into?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“The real ‘domino effect’ that terrified Western planners during the Cold War, was not the threat of Communist expansion, but the threat of nationalism. Were the poor to throw off the dictatorship of the West and better themselves in one part of the world, then people might be inspired to follow this ‘threat of a good example’” [David Cromwell, 2002; Private Planet: Corporate Plunder and the Fight Back, Jon Carpenter Publishing (Charlbury)].

[wanyee]

Geldof Warns West about China's African Interests, The Epoch Times, 28th April - 4th May 2006.

Johannesburg (Reuters) - Rich countries must move fast to eradicate poverty in Africa before China seizes the intiative and ramps up investment in corrupt African governments, anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof said on Tuesday.

The rocker-turned-activist said that unless the world's G8 group of rich countries delivered now on pledges made last year, African leaders would instead turn to Beijing, which has adopted a no-strings attached approach to doing business in Africa.

"It's going to have to happen now because China will be all over Africa...and they will embrace any government," Geldof told Reuters on the sidelines of a news conference in Johannesburg.

Geldof's comments came as Chinese President Hu Jintao tours three African nations to boost ties as Beijing trawls for the energy and minerals it needs to feed a booming economy.

Some analysts say China's push into Africa gives the poorest continent a chance to shake off its dependence on Europe, but others note Chinese investments can be blind to human rights abuses and may end up propping up bad governments.

Geldof cited Beijing's role in Sudan, where critics say China's trade and oil interests have encouraged Beijing to use its weight as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to provide diplomatic cover for a foreign government accused by many of war crimes against its own people.

China has also been criticized for stepping in with a $3 billion oil-backed loan for Angola after the International Monetary Fund criticized Luanda for rejecting greater scrutiny of its finances.

'Corruption Kills'.

Dubbed "Saint Bob" for his work on Africa, Geldof and U2 frontman Bono last year spearheaded the Live 8 Series of concerts, which was billed as rock n' roll's greatest line-up ever and aimed to push world leaders into alleviating poverty.

The graying and disheveled musician, who performs in South Africa for the first time this week, said Live 8 had achieved some goals on debt relief and aid, but there was much to be done on the key issue of giving Africa fair access to world markets.

And he said that would be meaningless unless African leaders stamped out corruption and improved democracy on a continent blighted by poor governance and repressive strongmen.

"In sub-Saharan Africa (corruption) kills people. And it must stop," he told reporters.

"None of what the rich world does will work unless governments in Africa make the same effort".

---

See also:

Thugs Smash Epoch Times Office: Communist Party's desperate attempt to silence The Epoch Times extends to Hong Kong, key equipment targeted and destroyed.

www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-3-2/38853.html


Hmmm...

---

Meanwhile:

Environment watchdog was fertile ground for abuse of office - The East African Standard.

A report by the Efficiency Monitoring Unit accuses NEMA directors of holding too many board and committee meetings with the sole intention of earning hefty allowances.

An audit of the operations of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) of Kenya has revealed widespread mismanagement and inefficiency...

www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/Regional260420061.htm

---

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), is responsible for giving the go-ahead on major projects, including the ones listed below:

1. Titanium-mining in Kwale
2. Dominion Farms Ltd. in the Yala swamp
3. The oil exploration currently taking place off our coast.
etc

[wanyee]

NEWS

Police break workshop by lawyers on mining deal - Daily Nation, 3rd May 2006.

Police in Kwale at the weekend dispersed a workshop organised by Federation of Women Lawyers and Muslim Lawyers Trust to educate farmers to be relocated next month to pave way for the Sh9 billion titanium projects on their legal rights.

The lawyers led by Muslims for Human Rights coordinator Hussein Khalid, arrived at Maumba primary school on Saturday morning ready to educate the local people, but were confronted by police from Msambweni station, who declared the meeting illegal.

Kwale police chief Patrick Mbarire said NGOs were not welcome in the area without the permission of the local police commanding officer. "We shall not allow NGOs to visit farmers without the knowledge of the police," he said.

He accused NGOs of inciting the people against the project at the implementation stage.

"If NGOs have any issue with the farmers, let them give sufficient notice and invite us so that we can go there and listen to what they have to tell the peasants and not just sneak in and incite them against the project," he said.

Mr Khalid said his group pleaded with the police to allow them to talk to the farmers, but the officers were adamant and advised them to leave or be arrested. He claimed the police have banned NGOs from the area and wondered what the Government was hiding about the project.

Mr Khalid, who spoke to the Nation on the telephone said banning NGOs from meeting with the farmers was creating more confusion. Kwale district commissioner Moffat Kangi claimed the lobby groups were creating confusion about the project that has been delayed for the last 10 years.

The coordinator said the lawyers were determined to offer free legal aid to the affected farmers in Maumba and would never be cowed by threats of arrest.

[pharlap]

These lawyers should be chapwad viboko sawasawa. Man i hate some lawyers. These guys are not thinking about the benefits of the local community. They are just in it for the compensation fees, they are there to milk the local folk dry. OMG!!!
I say, polisi, tandika hao viboko sawasawa.

These negotiations took place kitambo, these folk were told about the compensation and other issues. This mining deal has been delayed for over 10 years. What do these people want? Another 10 years of waiting? I say, the needs of many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. I say if any farmer refuses to move...*farmer? * big joke, let them be fined and not compensated. This is not child's play. When people are too much aware of their rights, they tend to abuse them. The simple thing is to take their compensation and clear off for the mining to begin.

All the same, i have faith in Tiomin that the project will go well without a hitch this year. Infact, i would like to congratulate the company for the extensive, massive investment they have done in our country. Hongera Tiomin. Wakulima fake......ondoka haraka!!!! People's selfish interests should not hold us at ransom.

[wanyee]

pharlap,

Just before you go off-line, are you aware of the entire history behind this project?

And I only expect that mentality about "chapaaing people viboko's", when they question neocolonialism, to come from a reincarnated home-guard. Are you saying that if I was one of those lawyers, and you were a policeman stationed at Kwale, you would put a club to my head?

Watch what you say. Some of us are taking this issue very, very seriously...

Tukutane kwa ile thread mpya tafadhali.

[pharlap]

Ok, Wanyee, if you were one of the lawyers, i would probably negotiate with you. DOn't tale the chapa viboko comments seriously. You know as much as i know that i respect the rue of law and human rights etc.. etc... What i am saying is that this issue has been dealt with. The compensation issue came up many years back and was addressed. Why do we have some idle lawyers roaming that part of the country holding small barazas chanuaring wananchi about their "rights" yet they have been compensated and i did not hear a single farmer talk about refusing kshs 80,000per hectare. Or was it more? Look here bwana, i take this issue at heart too and what we need to do is to rake the risk and get on with things.