Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah On Sunday during an engagement on X Spaces alleged how the late businessman Jacob Juma took his notes to venture into the mining industry.
Juma was propelled into fame when his newly formed mining company laid a stake in Ksh300 billion niobium mineral deposits in the Coast region.
An investigation by the Government of Kenya showed that a Canadian company had fraudulently obtained a licence to mine niobium worth Ksh6.2 trillion with Juma’s local company getting Ksh300 billion of the share.
Juma lay fortune to part of the claim after alleging that his company had in 2008 drilled 7,897 metres in Mrima Hills which led to the discovery of the mineral plus other rare earth deposits.
Now, Okiya Omtatah reveals that the late businessman who was assassinated in 2016 could have been frugal with the truth.
“We are talking about Jacob Juma and the mining at the coast. What I want to tell you is that Jacob Juma found the information about it when he came into my office,” Omtatah stated during the X Space.
“He used to come and do some work in my office. So when he came into my office one time and got a small write-up on those minerals.”
In possession of the personal notes he took from Omtatah’s office, the businessman ostensibly hurriedly went and registered a prospecting company.
He then partnered with the Canadian firm and started the niobium mining project at Mrima Hills in Kwale County.
The Busia Senator did not explain why he did not sue the late businessman for that breach of privacy.
In 2021, Kenya won the Ksh300 billion case against Juma’s company for revoking the mining license of niobium and rare earth minerals.
Niobium is a component in high-strength steel and rare earth and is used in the manufacture of electronics and magnets for electric motor vehicle motors.
According to the Busia Senator, Kenya has huge mineral deposits which are being exploited by foreigners in cahoots with few senior government officials.
