The government has proposed a registry of artisanal miners that will be linked to the systems of key State agencies, among them the Kenya Revenue Authority(KRA) and the Central Bank of Kenya(CBK) to maximise the revenue potential of the country’s mineral sector.
Artisanal mining is a traditional and subsistence mining operation characterised by the use of minimal machinery. The Mining Act, 2016 requires applicants and holders of mineral rights to pay application, renewal and other fees under the mineral rights.
The law also requires miners to pay royalties for the mineral they mine, except where the mineral extracted is a sample.
According to the Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs Ministry, a new registry of artisanal miners will be established to enable efficient management of the sector as it targets to increase the overall contribution of the minerals to Kenya’s GDP.
“Integrate with the following systems Cadastre System (OMC), KRA, CBK, Business Registration Service, Integrated Population Registration Database System and Lands Registry and other integrations that the ministry may deem important for the effective use of ASM operational capabilities,” the ministry said in a tender call for a consultant to design the registry.
“The system should have institutional workflows implementing county ASM committees’ operations, legal and regulatory approval processing and tracking of resolutions towards granting, renewal and revoking of artisanal mining permits” it added. The Mining Ministry has been under pressure for delays in issuing artisanal miners with permits.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu in a recent report said the government could not asses and collect revenue due to artisanal mining activities despite Parliament enacting a law seven years ago requiring miners to pay permit fees and royalties to the State.
“Interviews with miners in sampled regions established that they sold minerals to middlemen who dictated the price of the minerals,” Ms Gathungu says in a performance audit report on Monitoring of Artisanal Mining Operations by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining.
She said the audit revealed that there was no system in place for tracking minerals bought by middlemen, raising the risk of the minerals being smuggled out of the country without the revenue due being paid to the government.
“Audit findings revealed that the ministry had not developed sufficient measures to monitor artisanal mining operations,” Ms Gathungu said.
She said despite the ministry making efforts to support miners to organise themselves into associations and cooperatives in readiness for issuance of permits, the critical processes of formation and activating of Artisanal Mining Committees, mapping, and delineation of land are yet to be finalised.
The ministry was to establish 23 Artisanal Mining Committees within five years but only nine had been set up but not operational as of last year.
