The Ministry of Mining has rejected a petition seeking to revoke a license issued to Simba Cement Company, part of businessman Narendra Raval’s empire, in Kilifi County.
The ministry told the National Assembly’s Committee on Environment, Forestry, and Mining that it issued Simba Cement a license to mine limestone in Kaloleni, Kilifi County covering 24.931 kilometres square.
Mining Cabinet Secretary (CS) Hassan Joho said while Simba Cement Company Limited’s mining licence covers approximately 6,160 acres, the company currently owns about 351 acres, upon which its current cement plant, infrastructure, and mining operations are based.
Mr Joho said the remaining 5,852 acres are still under the ownership of local community members and the company continues to engage the individual landowners to purchase more of the land under license area.
The committee chaired by Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria is scrutinising a petition filed by Kostol Properties on behalf of residents of Kaloleni, Kilifi County, who have asked MPs to revoke a mining licence issued to Simba Cement Limited.
The residents, through Samson Matano, the director of Kostol Properties, want the House to revoke mining license No ML/2017/0014 and the degazettement of the Community Development Agreement Committee associated with the license.
The community members want the licence revoked on allegations of lack of proper compensation against land property which had from the early 1990s been used by ARM Cement PLC.
They also claimed forceful eviction of landowners from their plots which still had their homes and farms.
Mr Joho said since taking over ARM’s operations by Simba Cement, the company has procedurally and legally acquired several other parcels of land from the Kombe community members on a willing buyer-willing seller basis.
“It is worth noting that approximately 308 acres were acquired directly from ARM Cement Plc in 2019 while the other 43 acres were acquired by the company from members of the Kombe community,” Mr Joho told the committee.
Mr Joho said the ministry issued Gazette notice No 8060 to the public about an application for a mining license by Simba Cement.
He said the documentation submitted by Simba Cement shows that the company procedurally acquired several parcels of land from ARM Cement in 2019 before the company took over the operations in Kaloleni.
He said the gazette notice invited any objection to the grant of the mining license to be made to his office within 42 days from July 18, 2018.
“No objection was received by the Cabinet Secretary from Kostol Properties at the time and the licence was, therefore, granted as provided for under Section 33(2) of the Mining Act, Cap 306,” Mr Joho said.
“The company continues to engage the local community members to acquire more land with limestone reserves so it can advance its mining operations,” Mr Joho said.
Mr Joho denied claims by Kostol Properties that Simba Cement has been undertaking forceful eviction of residents in the mining area.
He said the Ministry could not verify the allegations since the names of landowners that were affected have not been provided.
Mr Joho said the request made by the complaint does not satisfy the grounds upon which a mining license should be revoked as per section 147 (1) of the Mining Act.
He said a mining license can be revoked if the company fails to make payments on the due date, fails to comply with any condition specified in the right or an obligation placed on the holder by the Mining Act, and false statements in the application for a grant of the mineral right.
“The Mining License ML/2017/0014 was granted in accordance with Mining Act, 2016 and the license holder has not committed any offence to warrant degazettement,” Mr Joho said.
“Simba Cement has been paying ground rent for the license and cement levy within the stipulated time.”
He said the company has employed 222 people on a permanent and pensionable basis and over 200 other people are working with subcontracted companies on site.
