By Ludger Kasumuni, BusinessWeek Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Academicians and researchers on governance of oil and gas are concerned that high levels of secrecy in the exploration activities by multinational corporations would only result into chaos and little benefit of the resources to the local communities.

Speaking at various occasions last week they called upon the people to start demanding more information on the exploitation of the country’s resources.

The people should also make sure the rights of the citizens to benefit from resources obtained in their communities are enshrined in the new Constitution.

The Executive director of the Centre for Justice and Democracy, Denis Maringo said problems affecting oil and gas exploration include secretive contracts, which are signed without the knowledge of communities living in or nearby oil and gas areas or their representatives.

“The public is not involved in the negotiation process as well as implementation of oil and natural gas explorations and drilling,” Mr Maringo said.

Another problem is that it takes a very long time for the public to know aboutthe discoveries already made in the country.

“Authorities have to give constant information on oil and gas exploration activities so that the surrounding communities can get prepared to participate in their own way in the new economic activities, ” Mr Maringo who is also a lawyer advocating human rights of the communities surrounding oil and gas drilling wells, said. Prof Hamudi Majamba, who teaches Law at the University of Dar es Salaam, said the current Constitution does not guarantee the rights of citizens to benefit from natural resources, including oil and gas.

“Experience shows that the process of enacting legislation for natural resource management under the Local Government Act has done little to improve the livelihoods of local communities and to ensure sustainable utilisation of natural resources,” Prof Majamba said.

Dr Donald Mwiturubani who teaches Geography at the University of Dar es Salaam called for the reduction of the power of the President to lease land resources as what is being done in Kenya.

“In order to empower local governments there should be provision to enable local authorities to issue title deeds. This can only be achieved if the power of the President over land is reduced to the benefits of decentralized governments,” said Dr Mwiturubani. Mr Maringo added that the other problem was that the surrounding communities where the gas pipeline passes through have not benefitted from the projects.

“One would think that with the drilling of natural gas their livelihood ought to change, but it has never happen. There is no significant change of livelihood among members of the surrounding communities,” Mr Maringo said.

Problems that have been associated with this state of affairs include bad governance structures at the level of the district and village governments, limited capacity of local government authorities in understanding the intricacies of legislation and lack of serious commitment of the government to devolve responsibilities to authorities at lower levels, said Prof Majamba.

Dr Mwiturubani also talked about the powerless position of local authorities to manage mineral resources including gas and oil exploration activities.

“Local authorities have minimal role in the mineral resource management process, despite the fact that mineral depletion is occurring in the local communities’ areas,” Dr Mwiturubani said.

Prof Majamba and Dr Mwiturubani, who were making a presentation at a conference in the city last week have called upon the citizens to participate effectively in the process of making the new national constitution for ensuring that issues associated with proper management of natural resources are taken into consideration.

Last November the newly appointed Chairman of Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Mr Michael Mwanda was quoted saying that the corporation was set to be more cautious when signing Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) with investors prospecting for oil and natural gas to ensure a trickle-down effect for the nation’s economy.

“There will be strict supervision for the nation to benefit substantially from the resources. We have to be careful, especially in the initial stages,” Mr Mwanda said.

He also said a public awareness campaign to enlighten people on whatever progress was made in the energy sub-sector should be conducted.

“People have high expectations, but they should also be told the truth that oil and natural gas exploration is an expensive and long process,” Mr Mwanda said.

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