Pay heed to communities’ interests in mining ventures

Kenya: Failure to have an effective communication strategy between the government, Tullow Oil Company and the local Turkana community in the area where oil exploration is underway is the one major factor that is being cited as the catalyst for demonstrations last week that brought operations at the site to a standstill.

Whereas President Uhuru Kenyatta is to be commended for moving fast to defuse what could have become an explosive issue, his government cannot escape responsibility for failing to educate the local people, in particular, and the whole country in general on what they should expect from their new-found wealth.

A leader and a social investment manager at a local company, Jackson Nakusa, captured the undercurrents that are fanning animosity in the area when he said the Turkana, who have been marginalised for quite some time, have huge expectations they want met immediately and, above all, they wish to be included in the decision making process.

 The importance of the relevant government ministries’ paying heed to what is happening in Turkana is borne out of the fact that the same sentiments are being expressed in other areas across the country where minerals have been discovered. Although the government needs to scramble to catch up, it should develop a transparent system of communicating with the local and national constituency.

 The days of entering into secret revenue sharing deals with the foreign companies should be a thing of the past, unless the government wants to stoke fires that could explode as they have done in many an African country where oil discoveries have led to the outbreak of bloody violence on both sides.

Today, the consensus is that the Biafra secession civil war in Nigeria was underpinned by a struggle for oil revenues. The militancy in Nigeria’s Niger Delta is also fuelled by the controversy over the sharing of oil revenues. What is true in Nigeria is equally true in Angola, among other countries in the so-called Third World.

Not surprisingly, many have come to view oil discoveries on the continent as a curse and have been warning that Kenya could suffer the same fate.

To ensure that the country does not hurtle down the well-travelled road to infamy, the government should ensure that no leader, political or otherwise, is let off the hook if he/she incites the public against the oil company or its employees prospecting for oil or minerals in any part of the country.  This is particularly pertinent in instances where it is clear the leaders are misleading their people for their own benefit.

 To agitate for the employment of skilled local people in a situation where it is clear the community does not have the capacity to supply them should, for example, not be tolerated. The better approach would be for the local leaders and government official to hold discussions with the company on how their people can be trained for the existing and future positions.

 Experience in other sectors of the economy, especially telecommunications, has shown that companies are eager to replace their foreign employees with local ones because the latter cost less in salaries and emoluments.

There is no reason why it should be any different in the oil, gas and minerals sector.

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