By Samuel Ngei

TI-Kenya held an all stakeholder’s forum at Kwale county where the Principal Secretary, State Department of Mining, Base Titanium officials, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and members of the community from Kwale county mining area were all represented. The key objective of the forum was to create a platform of convergence that sustainable and responsible mining in Kwale county is a shared responsibility that necessitates collaboration and an interconnectivity of government, private sector and civil society organizations.  Other objectives included; to reiterate consensus among stakeholders that while economic growth spurred by the extractive sector is essential, the same should be in line with our Constitution and international standards and best practices and; to promote a multi-stakeholder approach to addressing community-investor issues that will generate quality results for local communities, build trust among stakeholders and foster a long-term common vision for the benefit of local communities.

Sustainability is not an on-off or one-time switch. It is about integrating attention to environmental, social and human rights issues at each step of the mining governance process, from setting up frameworks, planning and exploration, licensing, extraction and mine closure. As a result of the stakeholders’ meeting, four working groups were identified to work on the four thematic areas identified to be of importance by the participants. The areas include: Royalties and CDAs, Sensitization on Exploration, Land and Resettlement and Environment, Health, and safety

The working groups were officially launched by the PS, State Department for Mining, Hon. John Omenge on 18^th July 2019.