Cement firm’s Sh25b plant faces headwinds as residents demand higher compensation

“We want to determine how the mode of compensation was arrived at and whether the grant of licence was done within the law,” says the letter in part, which is also copied to the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Director of Mines and Geology in the same ministry and Managing Director of ARM.

The lawyer who has threatened to move to court to stop the project also demands from the county government, a written consent by land owners agreeing to the project terms, a report of limestone mining feasibility study in Ngaaie area as well as an Environmental Impact Assessment report approved by Nema.

“Generally, my clients are not satisfied with how the limestone project is being handled. For instance, it is not clear if ARM was issued with a prospecting licence in the first place,” says the lawyer. The letter was sent to Mr Mulatya on October 9 through an email. In an interview with Weekend Business, Mulatya acknowledged ‘seeing the demand letter in email’ but said he could not respond to it since that was not the official channel of being served with demand letters.

“I did not take it as being officially served. If the lawyer serves me officially, I will respond with all the relevant documents since we have them. For now we don’t take that as official,” said Mulatya. Mulatya cautioned Ngaaie residents against being ‘hungry for money’ and stop engaging the investor directly even before the ongoing land adjudication process is complete. “True valuation of the land can only be done after the land adjudication process has been completed and title deeds issued. We have also advised the investor not to be in a hurry,” added Mulatya.

A good deal

However, the community’s liaison committee chairman Paul Nzengu reads sinister motives and politics in the threats to institute legal proceedings to stop the project. He says disgruntled people are in the minority who are hungering for money, saying their move will face a backlash from the community. “Those claims are totally uncalled for, it is politics. We have negotiated a good deal for our people. If this project stalls, then Kitui County will lose big time,” asserts Nzengu.

He noted that the Sh150,000 per acre was agreed on through consensus by the community members and rubbished claims by the lawyer that his committee was working in cahoots with the investor and county government to defraud locals. “My committee does not operate in isolation; we represent the community’s wishes. It is not in good faith to proceed with that court case,” he added. He clarified that his committee felt there was no need to do actual valuation of the land saying doing so would lead to a lower price. “We have checked other mining areas and we know the compensation terms,” Nzengu said.

Mr Mathuva said should the county minister not avail the demanded information, he will move to court on behalf of his clients to stop the process and compel the county government disclose all its dealings with ARM. ARM Cement on its part says it followed due process in the negotiations with the community for the past 15 months that arrived at Sh15,000 per acre figure. “Our understanding is that it’s a small group of youth that wants to rescind an earlier agreement. They want more money,” said ARM’s Managing Director Pradeep Paunrana, adding that, “ARM is working with a community liaison committee in Kitui and all matters in regard to land in the area are addressed through this body.”

But even with the impending legal suit, a new war front has erupted between the Mwingi North MP John Munuve and his Mwingi Central counterpart Joe Mutambu over the vast limestone deposits. Mr Mutambu who claims to own land in the area has also threatened to move to court and stop ARM from undertaking the project saying it should first resolve a court case with Bamburi Cement regarding Mutomo limestone deposits before undertaking any other project in Kitui County. The MP claims ARM is bent on exploiting the residents.

The assertions prompted Mr Munuve to hit back at his colleague for ‘trying to undermine development projects in my constituency’. “I am warning him to keep off matters of my constituency,” Munuve said. But undeterred Mutambu said ARM should not enjoy monopoly over the limestone deposits in the area. “I am a stakeholder in the limestone area since I own land there. The locals should be free to choose from different investors,” he responded.