Environmental experts have urged both the national and county governments in Migori to act swiftly and stop all unlicensed gold and copper mining in the region, warning that such activities are harming the local environment.
Through an organisation named Kenya Environment Protection Initiative (KEPI), the experts urged the local administration to urgently stop the indiscriminate mining happening around and within Kehancha town in Kuria West Sub County and Macalder town in Nyatike sub county
Security team in Kuria West Sub County of Migori County has stopped with immediate effect mining of gold on government land within and around Kehancha town.
KEPI’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Kevin Omollo, who spoke to KNA at the Isebania border town over the weekend, regretted that what has been going on in the area for a couple of years now has been a total destruction of the environment, especially on land designated for government offices and other public land.
“The environment around government offices in Kehamcha and Macalder towns has not been favourable for workers because of the continuous deafening noises coming from these gold mines,” explained Omollo, saying this would not be allowed to continue anymore.
He noted that the activities of extracting gold and copper near government offices have led to the destruction of institutions’ infrastructures that include roads and walls and floors of government offices that have developed huge multiple cracks.
Omollo also cited the ever increasing number of open mining shafts that are currently dotting the region and which he say are a danger to the local people and especially the playful children.
These mining points, he adds, have also seen several lives lost in the past when victims unknowingly fell into the open water-logged shafts and died.
Many of the miners have died after the shafts collapsed on them, triggering a ban from the government.
Apart from this form of danger, he said that the chemicals used in the leaching pans were polluting local rivers, thereby exposing the local people to serious health dangers
“No person of whatever status should be allowed to carry out gold extraction on government designated land within the area or operate without a permit,” he stressed
CEO Omollo suggested that an area committee that draws its membership from his office, the police, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), the mining office and other relevant civil bodies should be quickly crafted to work towards halting bad ways of extracting gold and copper within the area to save the environment and lives of the residents.
The call, however, attracted the wrath of residents, especially the miners, many of whom said it will affect their normal life seriously if they heed the existing mining rules and regulations.
Mr Lawrence Mwera, whom we interviewed a few minutes after climbing outside the gold pit he had entered to work in as early as 3 am near the Kehancha stadium, vowed to continue with his job by whatever means, even if the state will be hard on miners.
“This is the only place I eke my living and anybody telling me to leave this work is like telling me to surrender my life and that of my family to death,” said the 40 –year –old father of seven.
Like Mwera, Merema Mwita, another gold digger who has been in the game for over 20 years said dying in the gold mines is like dying in a road accident.
“I have not seen the government stopping matatus and buses which kill people daily on our roads from going about their businesses,” he said as he munched on bananas that he had carried to his workplace as his breakfast meal this morning.
But the environmentalists elsewhere in other forums have in the recent months raised the alarm over the wanton destruction of farms, residential and grazing lands within the region as a result of the intensive gold and copper mining activities happening in the region.
They have also expressed concern over the unchecked pollution of rivers in the entire region by the mushrooming gold mining firms.
This, they said, threatened the survival of human life, livestock and plant species, especially within Kehancha and Macalder towns’ suburbs and the entire region.
“The entire lands in this region are homes to human beings and key to the survival of our livestock and plant species. If not well protected, then the affected areas are likely to become serious food deficit points and a death trap to mankind, animals and plant species,” said Conserve Migori Lobby (CML) group official Joseph Chacha.
By George Agimba
