Mining Department and NCTC partner in training on commercial explosives

Wagema Mwangi-KNA

The State Department for Mining is partnering with the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) to capacity-building stakeholders on safe and responsible use of commercial explosives in Kenya to enhance national security.

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 utilizing explosives during mining.

The State Department for Mining Principal Secretary Elijah Mwangi said commercial explosives are key enablers in the growth of the mining sector as they assist miners to blast, break and loosen unyielding rocks and cliffs to easily extract minerals and ores.

He pointed out that commercial explosives are managed and controlled under the terms set out in the 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 PS 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 on the 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 unauthorized 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 neighboring 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 the miners by the explosives, there is a greater risk of the explosives falling into the hands of criminals; a situation that potentially exposes the country to critical security threats including terrorism.

Dr Charles Opiyo, an 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 sensitization would focus on the individual’s safety and the wider implications of accessing commercial explosives regarding 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 support from the public.

Among the actors targeted are the bodaboda riders and other swift transporters who are reported to be the 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.