
State Department for Mining in Kenya is partnering with the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in a joint capacity-building initiative to strengthen support for safe and responsible use of commercial explosives by stakeholders in the country’s mining ecosystem.
The decision informed by the need for situation-preparedness following increased terrors attacks in neighbouring countries and wars far afield that have ramifications in Kenya.
Under the partnership, the key actors within the mining landscape including artisanal miners, quarry owners, licensed blasters, transporters and officials within the security sector will undergo intensive and comprehensive training on safety standards and the implications of accessing, handling and utilisation of explosives at their levels in facilitation of mineral exploitation across the country.
State Department for Mining Principal Secretary Elijah Mwangi said that commercial explosives were key enablers in the growth of the mining sector through assisting miners in blasting, breaking and loosening unyielding rocks and cliffs for easier extraction of minerals and ores.
He pointed out that commercial explosives were managed and controlled under the terms set out in Explosives Act which has established stringent conditions for buying, importation, transporting, selling, usage and storage of explosives.
“We have a very stringent mechanism to control and oversee the role of explosives in the mining sector. What we are now fighting to achieve is to control and contain the undocumented explosives that pose a great danger to handlers in this sector,” he said.
The principal secretary disclosed that the department had professionally trained and certified blasters whose duties were to ensure adherence to the utmost safety standards during blasting activities by miners.
Despite the strict conditions imposed by the government in use of explosives in the mining sector, concerns have been mounting over the proliferation and illegal use of commercial explosives especially by artisanal miners to blast reefs in their relentless quest for minerals.
Such unauthorised blasting particularly in regions with prevalent mining activities of gold and gemstone have been attributed to wanton smuggling of commercial explosives into the country by unscrupulous traders from neighbouring countries.
Most of the blasting using illegal explosives is done by untrained blasters with little knowledge and sometimes results in tragic outcomes for the blasters and the miners.
Apart from the grave dangers posed to miners by the explosives, there is a greater risk of the explosives falling in the hands of criminals, a situation that potentially exposes the country to critical security threats including terrorism.
Dr Charles Opiyo, a NCTC official, said while explosives were enablers in the mining sector, there was a critical need for collaboration to sensitize and capacity build all actors along the mineral value chain on safety standards for explosives.
The sensitisation would focus on the individual’s safety and the wider implications of accessing commercial explosives with regard to national security. He disclosed that as the government enhanced measures to monitor and track commercial explosives by authorized dealers, consignments of explosives that were undocumented and smuggled to the country posed a significant risk to the prevailing peace and public order.
“Sensitisation on the whole issue of explosives is critical to loop in the actors in the mining sector in promotion of national security. Anyone accessing such sensitive cargo should be conscious of the implications and this will increase care, caution and safety needed in the sector,” he said.
Dr Opiyo also disclosed that NCTC would enhance its collaboration with security sector actors to enhance surveillance and crackdown on smuggling of explosives across the border. Part of this surveillance will include mapping the hotspots in regions where the vice is prevalent and conducting public awareness drives to solicit for support from the public.
Among the actors targeted by this initiative are the bodaboda (motorcycle taxi) riders and other swift-transporters who are reported to be main culprits responsible for transportation of this illicit cargo using unmanned routes across porous border points.
There have also been worrying reports that such illegally-acquired explosives are stored haphazardly in unsecured homes in total disregard of all safety standards. The standard storage measures require the explosives to be stored in a fortified magazine that is inaccessible by unauthorised persons. Additional security measures include putting up sandbag barricades for minimizing the impact of a blast in case of an explosion.
“There are people who store explosives in houses they are living in oblivious of the danger they are putting themselves in. We need to sensitise miners and other players in the sector on what it means to handle and store explosives,” said Gregory Kituku, the director of mines.
To strengthen the controls on explosives, the mining department is adopting a digitised Explosives information Management System to manage and process data on commercial explosives. The system is poised to increase the accuracy and accountability in monitoring, tracking and documenting the distribution, sale, usage and reporting on explosive utilization by the users across Kenya.
Additionally, the government is reviewing the Explosives Act to make it more responsive to the emerging challenges in the mining sector. Among the proposals is to stiffen the penalties and fines for unauthorised handling of explosives.
- A Tell / KNA report / By Wagema Mwangi