Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa now wants Shanta Gold Exploration Company to stop operations due to a lack of clear guidelines on how locals would benefit from exploration and mining activities.

The County Boss said the investor should temporarily suspend operations and engage with the devolved unit to agree on how residents would benefit from the Gold refinery business.

“The move to temporarily halt Shanta Gold’s exploration aligns with the county government’s efforts to strike a balance between economic development and safeguarding the interests of the community,” he said.

Further, he would not allow any form of exploitation of artisanal miners.

Instead, he promised the locals that the county government is working closely with Ikolomani MP Bernard Shinali to establish a Gold Refinery in the constituency with support from the National government.

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“Our priority in collaboration with MP Bernard Shinali is to ensure we have a Gold Refinery in Ikolomani constituency within the next 12 months,” he noted.

He has also called on the National Government to support the construction of the refinery in Kakamega, where many artisanal miners are concentrated and has a lot of gold reserves.

“I understand the National Government had proposed to establish a Gold Refinery in Siaya but as leaders of Western region and Kakamega specifically, we want a Gold Refinery to be established in Ikolomani because we have many artisanal miners in the sub county,” he said.

Meanwhile, the governor has requested that money be released from the National Treasury to counties he said were experiencing a serious financial crisis.

According to him, localities have gone three months without funding from the federal government.

“The prolonged delay in the disbursement of funds from the National government has triggered a ripple effect, severely impacting the day-to-day operations in counties. Critical sectors such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure development are facing challenges as resources remain scarce,” he added.