NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 25 - Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has ordered the closure of all artisanal mining sites in Migori following the death of four people in the last two months.
Kindiki through a post shared on his X account cited public safety risks adding that the artisanal mines pose a great danger to the miners as they have fallen short of laid down safety standards.
"To ensure regularized artisanal mining that meets public safety and environmental standards, the Government has banned all artisanal mining activities as well as unlicensed commercial mining. The Migori County Security and Intelligence Committee (CSIC) is directed to enforce this directive immediately,"Kindiki stated.
Migori County has witnessed deaths resulting from caved-in mine shafts in recent times with the latest one claiming the lives of 2 individuals and injuring several others last week.
The county has been in the spotlight over illegal mining with the government suspending all mining operations in the County in August last year.
At the time, the government had issued notices to both machine and artisanal miners to acquire legal licenses.
The government argued that issuing the miners operating licenses was the way it could generate revenue and also secure the miners from exploitation by cartels.
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