Mining cartels put on notice

By RENSON MNYAMWEZI

Mining Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has directed police and officials in his ministry to arrest miners operating without licences in Taita-Taveta County

 The cabinet secretary claimed the country is losing billions of shillings to a mineral smuggling racket involving unscrupulous, wealthy foreign gemstone dealers and miners in the region.

Mr Balala said influential mining cartels mainly from Sri Lanka and Tanzania come to the area to buy minerals and later smuggled them out of the country through the porous Kenya-Tanzania border.

 Without giving figures, a senior Ministry of Mining official noted that gemstone exports have drastically reduced as the cartels continue smuggling the minerals.

He said the cartels control the markets and even dictate the prices of the gemstones, with local dealers being cut off from the business.

Speaking during the inspection tour of several mines in the region yesterday, the CS, who was accompanied by County Governor John Mruttu and Commissioner of Mines Moses Njeru, said some of the foreigners usually disguise themselves as tourists visiting the Tsavo National Park only to engage in illegal mining business.

 MPs Joyce Wanjala Lay and Andrew Mwadime accompanied Balala during the tour of the area. The CS pointed out that the foreign dealers are colluding with local dealers to perpetrate the vice.

 “The foreigners buy the gemstones and disappear without following exit points. They are well known and should be arrested for purporting to be legal gemstone dealers in the area,” he said.  A senior geologist said some local mineral dealers were abetting the vice by allowing the illegal foreign dealers to operate from their offices.

Ministry of Mines records show that  nearly 70 per cent of the one hundred and sixty mining sites in the country are located in Taita-Taveta County.