INFLUENCE OF STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT ON PERFORMANCE OF MINING PROJECTS IN TAITA TAVETA COUNTY IN KENYA

Abstract

It is estimated in Kenya that the mining sector stands at 4-10% yet its contribution to GDP presently stands at less than 1%. The sector has also faced a number of performance challenges with slow conversion between license acquisition and project implementation, community conflicts and idle licensees. The study hence sought to investigate the influence of stakeholder’s involvement on the performance of mining projects in view of understanding why the outlined problem exists in the first place. The study used descriptive research design and the target population of the study was 89 mining projects. Primary data was collected and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated that involvement of financial partners and market players in mining projects has a positive and significant influence on performance of mining projects. However, the influence of government is negative but significant. On the other hand, community involvement positively but insignificantly influences the performance of mining projects. The study recommends that mining firms can enhance financial partner’s involvement in mining projects since it enhances the performance. There is a need to enhance improvement of accessibility to donor funds. The micro insurance firms as well as other financial firms can also enhance financial support to mining firms in order to enable them be sustainable in their operations. The study also recommends market players such as mineral trade organizations to ensure that the global markets of mining projects can be easily accessed as well as provide market linkage for mineral buyers and sellers so as to improve the sustainability of the industry. There is also a need to regulate the market and ensure that the demand for minerals is high so as to provide ready market. The study further recommends that the government, both national and county, should come up with laws and regulations that incentify venturing in mining. There is a need for other government regulators such as the Central bank of Kenya to come up with fiscal policies that are favourable enough to promote trading in mining.

Key Words: Government Involvement, Financial Partners Involvement, Involvement of Market Players, Community Involvement