Details

The workshop organized by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Kenya in partnership with the Turkana Natural Resources Governance Hub on the 29th-30th of March at Lodwar, Kenya brought together representatives of various organizations and stakeholders which work within Turkana County on environment, natural resources, extractives and governance in the county with the following objectives;

To strengthen the knowledge of stakeholders on extractives laws and policies including the Petroleum Act, the Community Land Act and the Environment Act,to motivate political leaders and stakeholders to respond to and commit themselves to address community issues related to the extraction of raw materials, to stimulate solution oriented discussions on the strengths and weaknesses of raw material extraction in Turkana county, to propose a framework and elaborate proposed amendments of laws that govern raw material extraction, to explore ways of expediently assisting in empowering communities to realize their rights and to develop a position paper on the design of raw material extraction including the definition of an action plan for the civil society members in Turkana County.

The workshop provided an opportunity for deliberations into the status, challenges, and opportunities being experienced in the extraction of raw materials in Turkana County and recognized the need for designing a platform of action to ensure the extraction of raw materials while safeguarding community and civil society interests.

The outcomes of the workshop include; a clear understanding of the interests of the civil society organizations (CSOs) and an opening of new cooperation between and amongst all stakeholders including CSOs and political leaders in Turkana County in the design of raw materials extraction in the county. The workshop also aimed at enhancing the capacity of the CSOs in understanding their interests and enable them to contribute their efforts towards fostering a stable environment for the extraction of the raw materials eventually leading to new engagements for CSOs and KAS-Kenya on issues relating to the extraction of raw materials in Turkana County.

The workshop therefore makes the following recommendations as the definition of actions that shall guide the platform of action for the CSOs;

1.Petition the Turkana County government to operationalize the Community Land Act 2016.

2.Conduct civic education initiatives to enhance the capacity of civil society organizations in Turkana county on constitutional and legal imperatives on extraction of raw materials and translate and develop simplified versions of the community laws for dissemination to the community members.

3.Conduct research on community perspectives on oil and gas and fact finding missions to establish the social and environmental effects of raw materials extractions by investors.

4.Petition for the transfer of the management of conservancies from the Northern Rangeland Trust (NRT) to the Turkana County Government.

5.Advocate for the review of the revenue sharing formula to increase the community share from 5% to 10%, 20% for the county government and 70% for the national government.

6.Conduct awareness creation to empower local communities on waste management, effects of exploration, mitigation measures and formation of environmental monitoring committees

7.Advocate for adherence to equal opportunity employment and merit in the allocation of employment opportunities by the companies involved in the extraction of raw materials and in consideration to the principle of equity.

8.Petition investor companies to disclose information on public sharing contracts and environmental impact assessment reports to civil society and community representatives.

9.Petition for the due compensation of the communities displaced by the extraction of raw materials guided by relevant laws.

10.Conduct community based dialogues for peace and leverage on traditional systems of alternative dispute resolution to resolve conflict at the community levels.

11.Advocate for skills training for community members and business training for community members to enable youth from Turkana to access specialized training that shall enable them get skilled employment in the investor companies and for local community members to exploit the entire business value chain around the extractive industry.

12.Undertake internal systems strengthening initiatives for the Hub to effectively position it to coordinate its activities and mobilize resources.

13.Lobby the oil exploration companies to adopt the National HIV/AIDS Control Policy and advocate for the companies to partner with community based civil society organizations to support partnerships on HIV/AIDS programing.