The Ministry of Mining has rejected a petition seeking cancellation of the license issued to Simba Cement Company, part of businessman Narendra Raval’s empire, in Kilifi County.
The ministry told the National Assembly Environment, Forestry and Mining Committee that it had issued a license to Simba Cement to extract limestone at Kaloleni, Kilifi County, with an area of 24,931 square kilometres.
Cabinet Secretary for Mining, Hassan Joho, said the mining license of Simba Cement Company Limited covers about 6,160 acres, and the company currently owns about 351 acres, on which the existing cement plant, infrastructure and mining operations are based.
Mr Joho said the remaining 5,852 acres are still under the ownership of community members and the company continues to engage individual landowners to purchase more land under the license area.
The committee chaired by Nakuru East MP, David Gekaria, is examining the petition submitted by Kostol Properties on behalf of residents of Kaloleni, Kilifi County, who asked the MPs to cancel the mining license issued to Simba Cement Limited.
The residents, through Samson Matano, director of Kostol Properties, want the House of Representatives to cancel mining license No. ML/2017/0014 and to gazette the Community Development Agreement Committee linked to the licence.
Community members want the license revoked over allegations of lack of proper compensation against land ownership used by ARM Cement PLC since the early 1990s.
They also claimed that landowners were forcefully evicted from their lands, which still had their homes and farms on them.
Mr Joho said that since Simba Cement took over the operations of ARM, the company had procedurally and legally acquired several more plots of land from members of the Kumbi community based on the desire of the buyer and seller.
“It is noteworthy that approximately 308 acres were acquired directly from ARM Cement Plc in 2019 while the company acquired another 43 acres from members of the Kumbi community,” Mr. Joho told the committee.
Mr Joho said the ministry had issued Gazette Notice No. 8060 to the public regarding the application for a mining license from Simba Cement.
He said documents submitted by Simba Cement show that the company procedurally acquired several plots of land from ARM Cement in 2019 before the company took over operations in Kaloleni.
He said the gazette notice calls for any objection to the grant of mining license to be submitted to his office within 42 days of July 18, 2018.
“The Cabinet Secretary received no objection from Kostol Properties at that time and therefore the license was granted as provided under Section 33(2) of the Mining Act, Cap 306,” Mr Joho said.
“The company continues to engage local community members to acquire more land containing limestone reserves so that it can develop its mining operations,” Mr. Joho said.
Mr Joho denied allegations by Kostol Properties that Simba Cement forcibly evacuated residents in the mining area.
He said that the ministry was unable to verify these allegations because the names of the affected landowners were not provided.
Mr Joho said the application made by the complainant did not satisfy the grounds on which the mining license should be revoked in terms of Section 147(1) of the Mining Act.
He said that a mining license could be revoked if the company fails to make payments on time, fails to comply with any specific condition in the right or obligation imposed by the mining law on its holder, and provides false statements in the application for a mining license. Granting of mineral rights.
“Mining license ML/2017/0014 was granted in accordance with the Mining Act 2016 and the license holder has not committed any offense necessitating removal of the gazette,” Mr Joho said.
“Simba Cement paid the ground rent for the license and cement tax within the stipulated time.”
He said the company employed 222 people on a permanent and retired basis, with more than 200 more working for subcontracting companies on site.