A small helicopter hovers above the skies and then disappears into the horizon. It reappears after some minutes, makes some few circles in the air before disappearing into the horizon once more.
Residents come out of their houses and gaze into the skies. They then turn to each other and smile. It is hard to tell why they are smiling but from the look of their faces, the smiles tell a story of hope and expectations.
After a few inquiries, one of the locals tells me that the small helicopter belongs to a company that is set to start the mining of gold in Ikolomani, around Bushiangala area in Kakamega County. Gold, the ancient and most liked and loved mineral is in Ikolomani.
Welcome to Ikolomani Constituency in Kakamega County. As the bus makes a stop, I could not fail to notice some heaps of soil here and there, some were still the same since the last time I was there to write my first story on gold. During that first time, I talked about how the locals risked their lives to dig deep into the heart of the earth in search of gold which they usually get of course. I also talked about the methods they use in order not to suffocate for lack of fresh air due to the deep tunnels. They tie green tree branches around their waist for an additional oxygen.
Read: The Gold Mines of Bushiangala in Ikolomani Constituency
That was then but this day I was back on a different mission. Several powerful individuals and some foreign companies have gotten the juicy wind of the availability of gold in this region. Some have already swung into action and some are still surveying. I will not mention the organization’s names at the request of their management. Some of them tell me that there is a huge deposit of gold that has been there for centuries in Ikolomani and only awaiting to be exploited.
Since most of the deposits are found in people’s farms and homesteads, companies that have already started the exploitation of the minerals have taken it upon themselves to give owners of such pieces of land either money or buying them another place and giving them money to start off new lives.
One local who has already sold off his one acre piece of land to the mining company tells me that he has no regrets at all.
“They bought for me another one acre of land and gave me 120 thousand shillings to start off a new life. Why should I regret? It is a good business,” he says as he warns me from mentioning his name.
The local tells me that many locals are giving out their land for money so long as the companies satisfy that there are some gold deposits.
As I leave the area, many questions run through my puny head: is the government aware of the mining activities in this region? What mechanisms has the government put in place to ensure that the locals benefit from the mineral? If it is true that the companies searching for these minerals are foreign companies, how is the economy of the country going to benefit?