Locals oppose proposed Ramula-Mwibona open pit mining project

By Peter Ochieng

Section of residents of Gem in Siaya and Luanda in Vihiga county have vehemently opposed the proposed Ramula-Mwibona Open Pit Mining Project by Shanta Gold, a gold mining company. 

Addressing the press in Kisumu on Saturday, locals under the umbrella of Concerned Citizens Movement led by Professor Fred Ogolla said the project is the “most destructive, and has more devastating effects than advantages on the local community and the environment.”

Ogolla said Ramula means ‘place of gold,’ adding that locals have since time immemorial, been mining gold in an environmentally-friendly way albeit at a small-scale level.

“Moreover, they have been allowing various companies to come and mine, provided it is in an environmentally friendly way,” he added.

As concerned citizens, he said, they are not outrightly opposed to the mining of gold by any company, but are against what he termed as the “opaqueness of Shanta Gold’s operations which has all the characteristics of dishonesty and fraud, and the mining technique that they are intending to use.”

If allowed to go on, Ogolla said the project will witness thousands of people being displaced from their ancestral land, which cannot be adequately compensated even by money.

Ramula residents, he added, in their petition to Siaya County Assembly raised pertinent questions about the proposed project and recorded their objections to it.

According to the Professor, it is through a report by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) released in October that the residents of Mwibona Ward in Vihiga County learnt ‘that their land is also to be taken by Shanta Gold Company yet the company has never engaged them in any discussion.’

“This is unacceptable,” he added.

The residents went ahead to issue several demands, among them that Shanta Gold listens to the local community of Ramula and Mwibona and immediately drop their plan for Open Pit Mining, and that the company gives clarity and evidence on the mineral rights acquired and the specific licences they hold in Ramula-Mwibona area.

Charles Odera, a resident, opposed the proposed project stating that the locality has over 200 churches and mosques which will have a ‘negative spiritual effect’ if they are brought down.

“We are asking ourselves, who is this that gave an order that we be evicted,” he paused.

His sentiments were echoed by Amunge Silaba, who spoke on behalf of the womenfolk.

“When they came, they never held a public participation to get the views of locals,” she said.

An online search revealed that Shanta Gold is an East Africa-focused gold producer, developer and explorer, with operations in Kenya and Tanzania.

Alongside its Tanzanian assets, the New Luika Gold Mine and the Singida Gold Project, Shanta also owns the West Kenya Project in Kenya.