This

Report Summary is prepared for Fatuma Ware Dullo, Senator Isiolo & Deputy Majority,
and takes into account the Big Four Agenda

1. Enhancing Manufacturing
2. Food, Security and Nutrition
3. Universal Health Coverage
4. Affordable Housing
__________________________________


THE CASE AGAINST Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) OPERATIONS IN ISIOLO

A Summary: The NRT conservation model assumes for the sake of the local population and
the wider international audience that the indigenous population does not know what to do
with their own land. In this model,

1. Community members are evicted from their homes and way of life and livelihood.
They cannot manufacture produce from their lands.
2. Community members have no access to their own water, cannot gain access to food
and nutrition.
3. Community members are informed that they shall be given piped water by NRT. This
has not happened 55 years after Independence. A dependency existence is created,
and their mental and physical health suffers. Mental health includes depression due
to insecurity, homelessness, dependency and lack of pride.
4. Community members are shot on sight by their own. Community clashes also occur
resulting in deaths or crippling of limbs and creating a generation of PwD’s.
5. The reasons given for the eviction of this human population falls under various
themes, mostly ‘Saving Africa’s Wildlife’ which is an oxymoron as indigenous people
have always coexisted with wild life and lived off the land they cared for.


Why this paradox? A better understanding is required by looking at the history, the aim
objectives and goals of of NRT.

• Mercenaries have been hired to exploit Kenya's natural resources of wildlife, oil and
minerals for economic gain. The head of security for Lewa is David Walker. He is the Chief
Security Advisor to Northlands Rangelands Trust and is also on the Board of directors of
Lewa Trust. David Walker is a well-known notorious mercenary whose career is running
outfits internationally. But why would mercenaries be hired to exploit Kenya?
The reasons go back many years, but there is one recent salient element that reflects all.
During 2003/2004, against the backdrop of the turmoil and scandal within the Kenyan
Wildlife Services (KWS), secret and private conversations were being held on how to
manipulate this turmoil to take control of Kenya's natural resources, both the wildlife and
minerals for economic gain.

• The major protagonists at some of these shadowy and clandestine meetings were Ian Craig
of Kenya's Lewa Conservancy and David Walker who as stated above is the owner and
director of the world's most notorious mercenary organisation Saladin Security. At the
periphery of these meetings were the British High Commissioner and members of Britain's
Lords of Parliament. They agreed to form the Northern Rangelands Trust aka NRT. The
overall objective would be to take control of Kenya's natural resources wildlife and minerals
for their personal economic gain.

• Saladin Security was previously known as Keenie Meenie Services or KMS Ltd, a private
military corporation set up in the 1970’s by a Kenyan of European descent, Major David
Walker who is an ex-SAS officer. The name Keenie Meenie has been claimed to be Swahili for
the movement of a snake through the grass, or Arabic for covert operation, and has also
been attributed to an SAS slang term for special operations in the Kenyan Mau Mau era
where Mau Mau killed more locals than they did Europeans.
•Formed in 1974 as a subsidiary of Control Risks by Major Walker its brief was to win
government contracts for security work. In 1977 Walker staged a management buyout and
took control. He was joined by Colonel Jim Johnson who had managed the Yemen operation
for David Stirling and the company base was moved to Jersey. Walker then registered the
company for tax evasion in Jersey as Executive International, to hide the identities of fellow
board members Col. James "Jim" Johnson (who went on to become a broker for Lloyds of
London), Brig. Mike Wingate Gray and John Martin Southern of the Blackwall Green Ltd, an
insurance firm.
• The first major contract of KMS (Saladin) was training the Sultan of Oman's special forces.
Then in 1984 KMS was approved by Margaret Thatcher's British government to train the
Special Task Force arm of the Sri Lankan military against the Tamil rebels. The STF was
widely reported to have been committing atrocities against the Tamil population and by
1987 KMS had moved their two hundred personnel to South America. The British press had
reported though the company denied it, that employees for KMS were quitting their jobs
because the Sri Lankan troops were out of control. In 1987 during the Iran-Contra
investigations, KMS carried out sabotage operations in Nicaragua that included mining the
Managua harbour and destroying enemy camps, buildings and pipelines. Also in 1987
Saladin Security was involved in the dirty war in Afghanistan. Together with Defence
Systems Limited they managed training programs in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
• After the clandestine meetings between Lewa's Ian Craig and David Walker of Saladin the
latter was appointed both as a Director and as the Head of Security as well as the Head of
Fundraising of Lewa Conservancy in September 2004. A few months later Ian Craig of Lewa
Conservancy formed the Northern Rangelands Trust. Since then, together with the advice
from Saladin, Northern Rangelands Trust has formed 35 member conservancies and taken
control of 4.5 million hectares of Northern and Coastal Kenya with support from principal
donors like USAID, The Nature Conservancy, DANIDA, and AFD, TUSK and many other
smaller donors who keep up a constant flow of billions of dollars into NRT.
• The model that NRT asserts to an international public, with guidance from Major Walker
former SAS, is that they support and empower communities to develop locally-led
governance structures, run peace and security programmes, take the lead in natural
resource management, and manage sustainable businesses linked to conservation. As can be
observed in the Northlands, nothing could be further from the truth.

_____________
• One of NRT objectives was to take control of the oilfields of Turkana - they used Saladin
Security’s partner African Camp Solutions to establish a conservancy in Turkana as part of
Tullow Oil's social investment programme in an effort to control the security risks and access
the oil in Turkana, but the locals saw through the deception. NRT failed to gain access to the
oil fields when the Turkana Governor rejected both the sneaky approach and the long term
objective. Northern Rangelands Trust were asked to leave Turkana. But by then, Saladin &
Control Risks had already coerced Tullow Oil to donate $11 million to manage the security in
the region around the Northern Oilfields.
• Through Major Walker, Saladin Security are financial partners with
- Northern Rangelands Trust,
- Sirikoi Conservancy which is within Lewa in Isiolo,
- Lewa itself which is in Isiolo County, and
- Tropic Air owned by James David Roberts which is registered and based in Burguret,
Nyeri North.

Saladin is now concentrating on its services to oil companies in Ghana and Kenya. The
Saladin company has a 20% stake in the Kenyan company African Camp Solutions, which
operates a base camp protected by teams from Saladin, on land owned by the Turkana tribe,
in the north-west of Kenya – the lease for the land on which this camp sits expires in the
year 2021.

• NOTE: Saladin Security also operate in Somalia. Major David’s son Daniel Henry Walker
owns Somalia Fishguard - a British company headed by mercenaries that has a fifteen year
licence to control all of the fishing and concessions off the coast of Somalia. It is a rotten
fishy business. However one must not forget that Saladin Security's objective is to provide
highly professional private and mercenary “security services” for governments, NGO’s,
corporations, prominent individuals, as well as services to heads of government in Africa.
They truly are the snakes in the grass.

• This idea behind Northern Rangeland Trust can be terrifying when one appreciates that
the House of Windsor, the UK Government and a mercenary outfit have formed an unholy
alliance to steal from Northern Kenya. Their base is LEWA, where Prince William visited in
September 2018 and claims as his ‘home’. An hours drive away in Nanyuki, Laikipia East
County, the former quiet Market town has become the permanent base camp of BATUK –
British Army Training UK. Despite being scarred by sedulous scandals of rapes committed by
BATUK officers on tribal women in Samburu, both the British and Kenyan Governments
blatantly ignore these horrendous misconducts, and have instead enforced the law - BATUK
stay in what is now a permanent camp.

• Look further into the current power structures, eg, Uhuru Kenyatta appointing the
Chairman of NRT's Board of Directors, Mohammed Elmi, to the position of Chief
Administrative Secretary (CAS) for the Ministry of Environment. Also on the NRT board as it’s
Vice Chair is Dr Hassan Wario, Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and the Arts – a man
who has been charged by the Government of Kenya with Corruption.

_____________________________
NRT CONSERVATION MODEL

• The assumption of the NRT CONservation model is largely the culpability of
marginalization of the former Northern District via the this same corrupt government, and
the presumption of Land as a commodity that can be purchased for individual monetary
gain. Pastoralism on the other hand does not follow this capitalist ideology and thrives on
the culture that land belongs to the ‘community made up of several families’ and never to
‘individuals’. Unfortunately, the government has deliberately and persistently played the
card, ‘my highway, or NO WAY’ towards the former NDP and pastoralists across Northern
Kenya.

• By relying on the European capitalistic ideology, the Government has by and largely
refused to assist the Pastoralist communities in the North thus leaving them to the mercy of
the greedy local investors, politicians, past Presidents and foreign Europeans - currently in
particular NRT & it’s head, Ian Craig. The NRT model consists of bush under-the-tree-
agreements where the entity takes over management of community land wherever there is
a permanent water source, or land with minerals or rare stones, and today, land where
there are large deposits of water underground as is the case of the Merti Aquifer.

Once under ‘NRT’ the lands are divided into 3 overlapping circles or ovals.
___________________
The First Inner Circle
• This central inner core encircles the permanent waterhole which is usually the main hotel
site where under management of NRT, the conservancy builds homes, hotels, swimming
pools, water treatment plants etc. The permanent water source becomes permanently
inaccessible to locals. Through various contracts eg, CocaCola and TNC that fund NRT (we
have no way of accessing actual payments of these contracts) but according to NRT through
their Annual Reports they admit that billions of dollars flow through NRT, which according to
them, goes towards ‘conservation’ efforts like the AI (artificial insemination) of White
Rhino’s. This funding however does not translate to the human population and
communities as they receive only the funds that comprise of the said ‘CON TRACT’ which
was first signed – the initial land rental charges.

• Tourists are informed that the thousands of dollars they pay to stay in the luxury hotels
translate into money channeled into communities. This is untrue as it is not effected.

• Tourists are often taken to villages or community centres which are deliberately kept poor
in an effort to use them as continuing examples for what is known as emotional or pity
funding, (Kibera Slum in Nairobi is another example of Poverty Tourism or PT). The lie is that
funds donated by tourists are used for building new schools or bringing water to
communities. Few fail to question why 55 years after independence men and women still
live in semi permanent homes without electricity or water from their own water holes, and
that conservancies are still building tiny clinics, hospitals and primary schools.

•This type of ‘Zoo’ treatment is offensive and traumatic, with many adults today from
Laikipia and Samburu are furiously annoyed by the treatment meted out to them as Children
by naïve broken and themselves traumatized parents - their private lives a spectacle for
foreigners, some going so far as to step into homes, kitchens and sleeping quarters, their
faces photographed for fame, with zero financial gain.

• Refusal to sign contracts or bargain with NRT or European owned conservations results in
them using armed force via the Government, (see also AWF beginnings), the killing of locals,
killing of cattle, setting locals against each other, infiltration of communities, and in the case
of Isiolo, the use of BATUK to surround and intimidate and evict women, men and children
from their homes and permanent & dry weather water sources.

• NRT blocks off the springs and water holes from the same community members and their
cattle. Many of these springs are known as mineral springs whose waters have healing
properties, springs which since the turn of the last century our forefathers have used for
their pasture, for animals and for drinking. Yet NRT fence these springs and UNICEF or other
UN agencies transcribe long scientific documents stating outright that the water is ‘not fit
for human consumption’ and wells are ‘poisonous’, cutting them off from community use
yet, via their funders like CocaCola & TNC - this water is packaged and re-sold to their own
countries.

• NOTE – these are PERMANENT water holes. Examples of these permanent water holes
(many inaccessible to communities today) are:-

1. NgareNdare Springs (NRT) – entry is 2000/- per adult Kenyan
2. Chari Biliqo Bulessa (Currently in dispute)
3. Buffalo Springs (NRT)
4. Shaba Oasis (NRT) (Free but Oasis is hidden) the community is not allowed in.
5. Kalacha Camp Oasis -?
6. North Horr Gudha Spring -?

• Community members, unless employed by the ‘conservation’ are not allowed within these
inner core circles.

_____________________________________
The Second Circle
• The Middle Inner core which the NRT Conservation model frames as Conservation lands
for wildlife. Note that much of the wildlife is stolen from the community land, often via
helicopter, then placed within spaces that are fenced and patrolled by trained wardens. Eg a
few years ago Ian Craig stole a family of Painted Dogs from Laikipia North and choppered
them to LEWA – this information is available from community members who like stated
before, are related to each other. There are no secrets on the ground.
• To date NRT has trained and armed over 800 men in the usage of arms. Equipped with
night sensor goggles and tracking equipment, helicopters and vehicles, these men guard the
wildlife from poachers in areas that were originally unfenced and animals roamed free.
• Fences block off migratory routes, and are ‘invisible’ to wild life - many a Reticulated
Giraffe has had it’s head cut off by running into the 10 meter high razor wired fences
erected to keep locals out and wild life in. However, many animals are poached withIN these
spaces that are ‘protected’, and killed for their skins, horns or tusks eg The Greater Kudu,
cheetah, leopards. Elephant calves are usually taken to sister conservancies for ‘adoption’
when mothers go missing.
• There is no greater love in elephant society than the maternal bond between mother and
calf. In the early years, the calf is under the constant watch of its mother for knowledge vital
to survival is imparted day to day. To observe the relationship between the mother and her
baby elephant reveals a profound level of care and tenderness that is second to none in the
animal kingdom. A baby elephant is born into the world with great fanfare, surrounded by
mother, relatives and other females in the herd, immediately joining the rich and complex
life of an elephant family. The newcomer will remain the center of attention for years to
come, being fussed over and cared for with great devotion. Juvenile female helpers and
aunties and play an important role in rearing elephant calves, ranging in age from 2-12 years
old.
• It is extremely rare that a human can take a calf from it’s mother and survive, yet today in
Kenya we have an abundance of motherless calves - these calves become tourist attractions
at The David & Daphne Sheldrick Conservations & others, a singularly fantastic emotional
tourism resource for extra ‘funding’ for their care with special milk formulas which costs
millions of shillings to make - all this for a foreign interference with nature, for Kenya’s
wildlife have never before been bottle-fed or given infant formula - animals have always
cared for themselves and when and if they required assistance, they roamed into local
villages. Women and children shared in raising any orphans which when older would
naturally return into the wild – and elephants are rarely in this category.
• Questions about the whereabouts of the Mothers of these ‘adopted’ elephants are not
answered or considered out rightly ‘hostile’ by CONservationists. Death by poaching figures
do not make sense and carcasses are rarely found.
• We believe our Mother Elephants are isolated deliberately within these highly protected
CONservations and either killed for their meat, skins, tails and ivory, or sold to foreign
Private Zoos/Menageries owned by eccentric Billionaires.
• Note that as recently as 134 years ago, if a healthy fertile Mother Elephant died, the calf
would be automatically raised by the other mothers in the group as Elephants are
particularly matriarchal. There are many points asked about these new foreign ‘methods’ of
keeping orphans with humans and not releasing them into the wild, usually brushed off
rudely by European and American theorists, disregarding the practicality of those who are
born in Kenya, who have and live with our wild life. The terse fact is that, wild life in Kenya
are a Kenyans birth right.
• Within NRT, all wildlife are allowed to roam freely even into the central core, and some
rhino are tame enough to walk close to humans – this has always been the case even within
the communities, but the foreign European has turned it into a ‘monetary’ venture.
• Community human members are however not allowed into this middle circle, neither are
they allowed to graze their cattle or herds here and both can be shot dead on sight.

____________________
The Third Outer Circle

• They are however allowed access in the 3rd and outer circle – and clinics are usually
established within this third circle.
• Community members are given free treatment in these clinics, but dangerous life-
threatening mauling by animal cases are sent to the closest referral hospitals in Nanyuki,
Laikipia East, or Nyahururu District Hospital.
• A quick check into the Nanyuki Referral hospital will show that while the animal – human
conflict numbers are high they are largely not reported in the media and there are no
available statistics. The wild animals in these circles tend to migrate closer to the water
holes or towards any rivers in the area during the dry seasons where they share scarce water
with Pastoralists.
• Young men are employed as Rangers, trained and given both arms and ammunition by the
NRT management; to shoot their fathers, mothers or brothers who may wander closer into
the inner circle looking for pasture or water. Gunshot wounds are also prevalent in Nanyuki
hospitals.
• When NRT were forced out of Turkana by the greater community, they left without paying
the Rangers they had trained. These Rangers were however, left with arms and ammunition.
This then is the conservation model that pits man against brother and father.

_______________________

• Kenya Wildlife Service play a large part in this macabre game that pits brother against
brother. Note that KWS is a government service. Ian Craig and Richard Leakey were both
Board Trustee Members of KWS before Leakey’s contract expired. Ian Craig still serves as a
member of this Board of Trustees in a Kenya where the ‘Shoot to Kill Humans’ order
originated from. It is upsetting and highly illegal and gives authority to white men to kill the
indigeneous – yet NRT Management played into the emotions of a Presidency and a Nation
– who without proper understanding nor investigation did not look into the highly immoral
and demoralizing consequences of this absurd directive. It wrongly simulates that a Black
Kenyan next to any wild animal in his country, is a poacher. In a country where we have
lived peacefully with our wild life for hundreds of years, no local man woman or child should
be shot dead for any reason whatsoever, let alone being near an animal, on his own land.

• There is also the scandal of unpaid rangers, men who for long months are sent into the
bush and forests without pay from KWS. This is due to (deliberate?) mismanagement on the
part of KWS (Trustee issues) and an inertia of those involved to resolve the problems that
are inherent within this body. Again, two foreigners were the custodians of this Trust, many
Kenyans believing that wild life is the domain of the white caucasian person while nothing
could be further from the truth. Africans know their animals.

• Throw in the fact that Kenya is ironically the gateway of the illegal trade in wild life dead or
alive, called ‘game’ by Americans and South African’s alike - wild life parts, including ivory,
skins, scales, snakes, crocodiles, birds, claws of the anteater, lizards, chameleons,
chimpanzees, the beautiful Colobus monkey skins and tails, etc (the list is very long)- are
smuggled out of Kenya’s extremely porus borders. Live Wildlife is sold to Zoo’s across the
world under the tag, “Private CONservancies” – eg NRT. Today all deals are conducted
online.

• The construction of Isiolo International Airport makes this illegal wildlife trade doubly
difficult to control. This airport is situated directly across from Lewa Gates - the heart of the
NRT ‘White man Poaching land’ where locals are not allowed. Two weeks ago in a
community county meeting it was noted that Isiolo Airport is in Meru County and employs
only the Ameru – these are just examples of the severe marginalization and division of those
within Isiolo County – these are tactics employed by NRT to cause further division among
Kenyans.

• Rampant corruption, outright greed, a lack of knowledge, indiscipline and abject poverty
guaranteed by late payments of appallingly low salaries (actually they’re not salaries – the
sums given are insulting) makes it difficult for the National Police and/or Administration
Police to play an objective role in securing community lands or controlling an illegal wild life
trade.

• The communities in the Northlands are over policed, this in itself is extremely dangerous -
instead of policing foreigners, the locals are policed by:-

1. Police Reservists
2. Administration Police
3. National Police
4. KWS Wardens
5. NRT Rangers
6. BATUK
7. American Troops (whom are now in the same area)
8. Saladin Securities

There is a concentration of too much fire-power in Isiolo, a land mass that is not as highly
populated as the lands South of the Equator. Take the example of the BATUK troops
surrounding the Isiolo - Chari Biliqo Bulessa conservancy community. Over 5000 troops.
Whom authorized the orders and for what purpose?

• Terrorism. Often there are emotional conspiracy stories of Al Shabaab which are flagrant
lies and known to foreign media, but alarming to Kenyans south of the Equator. Proof of
these terrorist activities is often unobtainable, with vague references in the local media,
stories written by brown envelope journalists handed out by NRT with a slant to incriminate
locals. Those who have been arrested as Al- Shabaab members often released on bail and
then spend years in a system where the case is repeatedly ‘heard’ with no evidence
produced by the persecuting Police or arresting officers, many whom are transferred.
• Local families are intimidated by the ATPU, and lives destroyed for the single purpose of
covering up the illegalities of this wild life trade controlled by Kenyan Cartels/Mafia. This
causes turmoil and trauma both within and without the country as the negative news
coverage (lies) often calculatingly become exaggerated in international media with Terrorist
“attack” or “arrested” headlines.
• KDF and local armies are housed within NRT Managed CONservancy boundaries – eg the
permanent KDF camp inside the Laikipia Ol Pejeta. Where is the line drawn between
government special forces and private CONservations on land which formally belonged to
community conservations?
• Note that through the proof of membership and management of these community lands,
brilliant professional photography, copy written content on websites and professional
advertising on posters, billboards, newspapers and magazines in the UK, US and across
Europe through their affiliates WWF and other CONservation bodies, advertising on
television and in movie theatres, radio and international school volunteering programs, NRT
is funded by thousands of organizations worldwide, all whom pledge and give billions of USD
for the ‘conservation’ of wild life.
• This wildlife thrived by itself under the care of the indigenous for thousands of years
before the arrival of the colonialist 134 years ago (the Berlin Conference and the Partition of
Africa, 1884), or in the case of Charri, the wildlife has been thriving without funding, to date.
• Other Funding: NRT receives Billions of Dollars of funding through many programs that
exclude community members and the peoples choice through County government and MCA
representation. Many of the ‘arid lands development’ contracts are given to the Kenyan
Government through NRT by international agencies eg USAID as stated above. This has also
been a concern as funding does NOT trickle down to the communities – again – why are the
communities not the beneficiaries? The answer given is that the only benefit that the
community should get is the agreed sum in the contractual ‘land rent’.
• NRT has reconstructed it’s website and information as a caring organization made up of
community members. It has incorporated its Board of Directors to include Hon. Mohamed
Elmi MP Chair, and Dr Hassan Wario, Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and the Arts as
the Vice-Chair, both whom are accountable to a Council of Elders which they say is
comprised of the elected chairpersons all from the member conservancies. These Elders are
on a retainer fee of 35,000ksh per month. Nevertheless, it is still a private and highly
dangerous body.
• For example, the reports that in Isiolo there are 5000 BATUK troops that have surrounded
the Chari Biliqo Bulessa conservancy community in an effort to evict them off their
permanent water hole sites, in order to build a hotel. This report came through on Saturday
13th of October, 2018. This usage of brute illegal force by a private entity made up of
membership of local powerful elites must be halted immediately. Community members or
youth should not be treated as the problem and the government must defend and invest in
its own people, not kowtow to greedy elites and foreigners.

______________________________
Way Forward & The Big Four Agenda

•Efforts should be made to then talk to the community on how they would like assistance to
garner the resources they have.
• We are many Errant Natives with brilliant ideas for manufacture including creating eco
friendly leather products, to planting bamboo which can be used to build houses, bamboo
can be used for fencing, roofing, for water piping, for water troughs. Some bamboo products
are natural ‘rustic’ mugs and plates. Communities can plant and harvest Dune Palm fronds
to make baskets, mats and roofing.
• It is important is to work towards assisting communities develop a subsistence quality of
life that is rich and pleasant, to re-create a return of local cultures and markets, not
‘supermarkets’ which are reliant on fake foods and freezing of produce imported from afar,
and an overabundance of plastic which ruins the environment.
•The communities also have their sheep, goats, camels and cattle which prospered from
permanent water holes, and culturally there are methods which were used to keep the
water clean, as drinking water for animals was normally put in a drinking trough.
• Food, Security, Shelter and Water can be achieved by reversing illegal contracts with NRT
in order that the communities can return to using their own water sources and land
resources. This would entail the government cancelling contracts? Further attempts made to
entice, take or lease or borrow land from community members should result in legal process
and prison time.
• Bi-Annual International Trade Fair Markets should be introduced. This will give artists,
sculptures, dancers, craftspeople, musicians, pastoralists, herders and all sectors of the
community to sell their products to international buyers.

_____________________________________________________

Apart from WildLife and Water Resources in the Semi Arid Northlands, the management of
Northern Rangelands Trust are keen and greedy to Mine the following.
________________________________________________________

The Hollywood production Blood Diamonds provides a glimpse into the atrocities and horror
that disagreements over gems and minerals can bring to a nation – and this is what is
happening in Northern Kenya. In the movie the greed for yellow diamonds in Sierra Leone
created political and economic strife leading to the exploitation and inhuman treatment of
the local population. If gem mining is not carefully managed in Isiolo and the rest of the
Northern Counties, the repercussions will be deadly.

The following are found in Northern Lands:

Natural Yellow Sapphire
– Rare and coveted from Garbatula Kenya. The Garbatula Sapphire mines in Northern Kenya
were actually opened up by Lapigems in the early 1970’s. The company was just starting out
on its first mining project and samples of dark blue sapphire from the area had been brought
in by local tribesman from the area and looked promising. Lapigems obtained the mining
claim for the area from the Mines Ministry and Basil Zagoritis, the company founder began
the herculean task of building a road to access the area and setting up a mining camp. The
area was dusty, wild and remote, located about 80 miles northeast of Mount Kenya. “When
one understands the lengths to which dealers will go to enhance yellow sapphires and the
extent to which these practices are prevalent in the market today, then one can begin to
appreciate the rarity and beauty of purely natural stones. This is the special thing about the
wonderful Yellow Sapphire from the Garbatula deposit – we simply cut it, nothing more. It
boasts the most beautiful, sharp yellow hue which is reminiscent of canary diamond and is
for the most part, very clean.”

Iron – Merti, Isiolo.
The discovery of a valuable mineral rock in Merti Sub-County in Isiolo has caused a scramble
among county residents and beyond. The discovery of metallic meteorites, said to be rich in
iron, has attracted hundreds of prospectors from Isiolo, Garissa, Wajir, Marsabit and Nairobi
counties to Badan Shida in Baasa location. Locals claim the mineral has also been discovered
in Hawaye, Sericho in Garba-Tulla Sub-County.

Green Tsavorite –
Kenyan Tsavorite are brilliant green gemstones from deposits near Kenya’s famous Tsavo
National Park. The ‘King of Garnets’, Tsavorite is increasingly popular due to its beautiful
greens, and is one of the scarcest and most valuable gemstones. Tsavorite is regarded by
many gem experts to be the world’s finest green gemstone with the former President of
Tiffany & Co., Henry B. Platt stating, “Tsavorite is everything that a fine gemstone should be,
and then some”. While Emerald’s greens are frequently exemplified as being ‘unparalleled in
the gem kingdom’, former Colored Stone magazine Editor-in-Chief David Federman states,
“Tsavorite has a reputation of showing green at its best”.
______________________________________________________________

Government involvement, the Ministry of Mining and timelines.

•Kenya has substantial deposits of ruby, spinel, zoisite, garnets, sapphire, tsavorites and
aquamarine, gemstones that would earn the economy more if the sector is well regulated.
The coastal region sits on the neoprotezoic Mozambique belt which has high-value
gemstones. Taita Taveta, Kwale, Baringo, Kitui and West Pokot have long supplied the local
and global markets with ruby, sapphire, tourmaline and tsavorites. Tsavorites are mined in
Kwale and Taita Taveta while the beautiful aquamarine is found in Meru and Tharaka-Nithi.
Western Kenya has gold deposits.
• Despite the availability of these minerals, there are NO valuation procedures to measure
the worth of gemstones before they are exported. Kenya also lacks gem laboratories that
grade the stones and gemmologists to do this grading. A director at the Mining ministry says
little recognition has been given to the gemstone industry and a lot needs to be done. “An
old Mining Act is what is being used but the ministry is putting a legal framework soon to
ensure that everything is captured including the artisan miners.”
• The Mining Bill, 2013 was the first major review of the 1940 mining laws and sought to
safeguard the interests of citizens and Kenya. The Act specified the timeline for mining,
royalties, valuation of minerals and dispute resolution. It also restricted mineral dealership
permits to Kenyans, and that foreign companies must have a 60% per cent local holding.
• This Mining Bill has been adapted several times over the last few years but it still locks out
the local investor at the community level. Participation in the upcoming Kenya Mining Forum
(12 – 13th November 2018) hosted by KCM may give attendees more information about the
current mining situation in Kenya. However, note that the industry is hostile to locals as
participation tickets are selling for as high as 1000usd.
• Miners in Taita Taveta County urged the government to ban the export of uncut
gemstones. Mr Gabriel Mcharo, the chairman of Chawia, a community based local
organization said that miners and the government would reap higher benefits from the
resource if the ban is effected and would boost the country’s economy, especially with the
construction of a gemstone centre in Voi Town. Currently local miners are not gaining good
profits from minerals because most miners sell their gemstones to brokers.
• The government constructed the mineral centre at a cost of Sh100 million to add value to
minerals before selling them abroad.
• In 2015, the former Mining Cabinet Secretary and Current CS for Tourism & Wildlife Najib
Balala said the government would “implement this ban in 2018.” Meanwhile, not only does
the government lose millions through cartels who export minerals in bulk raw form, locals
cannot access this market.
•Taita Taveta County is endowed with various minerals including Tsavorite, ruby,
tourmaline, red garnets, green garnet, Tanzanite and Iron ore but due to poor regulation
and laws that favor an International market, residents continue to wallow in poverty due to
corruption, greed by the elites and mismanagement by local leaders in government. This is
also true for Tharaka-Nithii and Isiolo Counties.
_____________________________________________________
Way Forward for Isiolo County Using the Big Four Agenda

Currently there are no schools that teach gemstone production or jewel designs, yet Kenya
has the 2nd largest abundance of gemstones and minerals in Africa after DRC. Kenya has no
labs to clean, cut or polish stones and the industry is swathed in deliberate secrecy where
only the elite deal with stones. Entrance into the local gemstone fairs is USD 1000 per single
issue ticket.

1. Manufacturing – Create an atmosphere where, traders, miners, jewelers and cutters
have clear-cut guidelines within the mining industry. So far, the government has not
been keen on streamlining the sector, leading to illegal mining and domination by
cartels that do not pay taxes.
2. Valuation procedures where minerals are cut, weighted and evaluated according to
international standards.
3. Streamline laws, pass the Mineral Act, and implement the Mining Bill, 2013, ban the
exportation of raw gems and minerals, as well as the importation of cut gems and
semi-precious stones.
4. The lack of schools offering courses in gemmology has left the industry with
shortage of professionals like prospectors, miners and cutters and any
‘professionals’ currently serving the industry use outdated techniques which result
in poor prospects and low-quality products.
5. Currently the University of Nairobi is the only one which offers a Degree in geology –
this College should be imported to Isiolo and modified with lecture halls, high tech
modern labs and equipment.
6. The Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology offers a course on
mining and mineral engineering courses. They too should open this Campus College
in Isiolo with a modern laboratory, lecture halls, labs and equipment.
7. The Technical University of Nairobi once offered gemmology courses and had a
laboratory for gemstone studies, but the course has long been dropped. Hence Isiolo
county can take up this slack and open a Technical school of Jewel design and setting
of stones.
8. Art schools where artists learn how to sculpt using our metals and bronzes.
Currently our artists use ‘jua kali’ or ‘2nd hand’ parts to work their art, and while it is
beautiful, a market should be developed where artists work with rare stones to
create beautiful images.
9. The Taita Taveta University College is among the few counties planning to introduce
gemmology courses.
10. Tax Free importation of all tools, heavy equipment etc needed for both mining and
the production of minerals
 11. Creation of a Bi-Annual Mineral & Crafts Trade Fair where the locals can sell their
products from jeweled carpets and supple leathers to jewelry, to large slabs of
marble for the housing industries.
_______________________________


Compiled by Najar Nyakio Munyinyi,
Errant Native

While all efforts have been made to research and write facts based on conversations to various parties both face to face and on
phone, and on travels to affected areas, there are parts of this summary where I may have erred. I take complete responsibility
for those errors and ask for a correction of the same.


With Thanks to the following:
Dr. Abdullahi Shongolo, Mordecai Ogada, Mbaria wa Mbaria, J. Dima, Sahara Abdi, Jerotich
Seii, Violet Matiru, Al Amin Kimathi, Said Wabera, Edna Chepkurui, Dr. Wandia Njoya, Dennis
Morton, Bertha Rinjeu and Fatma Ismail among many other Errant Natives.

We believe in African Solutions For African Problems By African Peoples ~ we’ve got this!!

October 2018

Attached: Video Agriculture