The National Lands Commission has allowed the Wanjala Mining Company to extract iron ore from Kishushe Ranching Cooperative Society land in Taita Taveta.
Environment and Natural Resources director Leonard Omullo yesterday said the company was cleared of wrongdoing by a task force formed to investigate the legitimacy of its mining license by former Mining CS Najib Balala. “According to the recommendations, the management complied with all relevant requirements, including a valid mining license from the government,” he said.
The company’s license was among 300 cancelled in 2013. Their operations were stopped. “The ministry received many complaints from local communities and leaders, mineral rights holders and other stakeholders,” Balala said when he revoked the licences. “Despite the Ministry’s efforts to resolve the issues, they persisted and stalled exploration and mining activities.”
Omullo said the commission did not find a conflict between the ranch and the investor. “We want justice to be done to the investor,” he said. But the ranch management disputed the assertion, saying the investor’s lease expires today and has to be renewed. “We have a title deed. We are waiting for the investor to apply for the consent. If he fails, we’ll give the consent to another interested investor,” ranch director Benedict Mwabili told a public hearing at the Kishsushe trading centre yesterday.
Company MD Kasim Muhammud appeared separately before a public inquiry carried out by the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights on mining and its impact on the enjoyment of human rights at the Rukanga trading centre. He said it was issued with a mining consent by the now-defunct Taita-Taveta county council in 2006 and the Local Government ministry approved its 20-year lease.
“In 2009, the ranch complained that we were illegally extracting iron ore. It couldn’t prove it. Both parties went to court,” the investor said. “We’ve suffered because of the endless land disputes. Residents have also lost their jobs.”