Large gold deposits are lying in the ground in Kakamega, Vihiga and Siaya. We believe that this mineral resource will be a gold changer in the lives of our people in Western. But we cannot allow politicians and brokers to take advantage of this resource and keep we the SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE SOIL out of it. We want to be part and parcel of the gold mining in Kakamega and Vihiga. ( Citation)
We therefore are getting together to do the following.
*1. Mobilise* We intend to recruit friends, family, locals, professionals, those in diaspora etc to add a voice in creating awareness of the impact large scale gold mining will have on residents of those areas. That explains. We welcome you to be part of a larger team that will speak, cry, run, protest, tweet, write, petition and do all that appertains to creating awareness, seeking funding, and being part of the action to reach out to the people of Western on the important resource that God gave them. Gold
Specific objective 1: To assess the impact of large-scale gold mining in in the area
*2. Create awareness*
Our people have remained largely ignorant and they just welcome visitors who may be coming to exploit them. Our group is going to reach out on social media, electronic and print media, in churches, villages, and parliament etc to create awareness on the impact of gold mining.
Specific objective 2: To provide community sanitation through the use of various social media platform at all levels
*3. Petition*
We shall petition, parliament, govt, county govts, Acacia Mining etc .. to disclose to us and to the entire world who they are, how tenders are awarded, who are the shareholders etc AND to give full disclosure on details of BENEFITS, compensation, environmental reports, etc that the mining companies will engage in.
IT is our right as Kenyans to get information. But corruption in govt makes it very hard for info to be shared. All we want is transparency and accountability in the process.
Objective 3: To provide advocacy to various stakeholders in a bid to ascertain the process used to procure mining services by third party companies
*4. Environmental And safety concerns*
Safety of the lives of people of Kakamega. Those mines in Roster man, Shinyalu etc are a great danger to all the residents. Many are uncovered, others poise huge risks to all. Many have died or maimed working in the mines. We want to know who and how our people will be protected from gases, environmental hazards etc that come with large scale mining. And this is OUR key objective.
NOTE.Gold needs large amounts of water to process. Water is LIFE. Our rivers, whether patterns etc may be affected because Gold mines involve excavations of large tracts of soils as they dig the tunnels. There will be displacements etc.
Objective 4: To assess the environmental impact of Gold mining to the environment and the populations at large in the areas
*CONCLUSION*
The gold mine petition is about starting a conversation to engage all those involved in the proposed gold mining in Kakamega’s Lirhanda belt. This conversation will be actioned packed and is expected to bring results that will be an eye opener to all of us.
