CONSENT BEFORE CONTRACTS, BENEFITS BEFORE BULLDOZERS

Executive Summary: At a Glance· The Stakes: Mrima Hill in Lunga Lunga Sub-County holds massive, globally significant niobium and rare earth element (REE) deposits. With an open competitive tender launched by the Ministry of Mining in March 2026, binding choices regarding leasehold terms, operator selection, and mineral processing extraction rights are being finalized right now.· The Structural Gap: Mrima Hill is not an unpopulated mineral block. It is a gazetted forest reserve, a critical regional water catchment, high-yield agricultural farmland, and a sacred, highly sensitive Kaya cultural landscape containing irreplaceable ancestral burial grounds. Surrounding Digo and wider Mijikenda communities remain systematically excluded from transparent, prior consultation.· The Strategic Fix: This policy brief demands an immediate freeze on binding contractual signings. National and County governments must codify two institutional mechanisms prior to project commercialization: a formalized, legally binding community consent methodology, and a ring-fenced, independently audited community benefits governance system.· The Policy Offer: This brief establishes an actionable Seven-Step Kaya-Sensitive Consent Protocol (KSCP) and a Four-Pillar Mrima Community Benefit Architecture (MCBA) to de-risk investments while safeguarding indigenous heritage.CORE PRINCIPLE: Community benefits, corporate trust, and legal asset protection structures must be fully operationalized BEFORE the first truck arrives on site, not after the last extraction asset leaves.