Lawyers’ proposals key on natural resource bills
MPs chat at parliament grounds in Dodoma. Parliament’s marathon budget debate has been extended so that the House can debate three bills on exploitation of the country’s natural resources. PHOTO | EMMANUEL HERMAN
What you need to know:
- For the second day in a row, two parliamentary standing committees have been busy, collecting stakeholders’ views on the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2017, the Natural Wealth and Contracts (Review and Renegotiation of Unconscionable terms) Act, 2017 and the Natural Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty) Act 2017.
Dodoma. Tanzanians from all walks of life and academic disciplines continued to air their views on the three natural resource bills here yesterday, with some lawyers urging MPs to improve various definitions in the proposed laws.
For the second day in a row, two parliamentary standing committees have been busy, collecting stakeholders’ views on the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2017, the Natural Wealth and Contracts (Review and Renegotiation of Unconscionable terms) Act, 2017 and the Natural Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty) Act 2017.
The bills, which are to be approved on Certificate of Urgency between today and Wednesday, are a deliberate move by President John Magufuli’s administration to ensure that Tanzania gets its fair share of revenues from the country’s natural resources.
Standing before the committees – which were co-chaired by the chairman of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Constitution and Legal Affairs, Mr Mohammed Mchengerwa, and his Energy and Minerals counterpart, Mr Doto Biteko – a representative from Tanganyika Law Society (TLS), Mr John Seka proposed to change the term “mineral concentrates” and substitute it with “metallic mineral concentrates”.
“From our point of view, the term ‘mineral concentrates’ is contradicting…We are proposing that we adopt the term ‘metallic mineral concentrates’. In line with the Code of Federal of the United State of America, the term ‘metallic mineral concentrates’ will means that all types of minerals found in Tanzania.
Other areas in the proposed laws that TLS wants changed include those related to definitions of tax expenditure, local content and integrity pledge.
It is TLS’ view that the definition of local content in the bills must go in line with how it appears in other laws like those dealing with oil and gas. TLS would like to see the bills stating emphatically that the government’s shares in all the mining operations in the country will be held under the State Mining Corporation (Stamico). Dr Antidius Kaitu of the University of Dar es Salaam said it was encouraging that the bills have firmly stated that the government will own shares in all mining firms. The move empowers the government to appoint members to the companies’ boards of directors and thus be in a position to take part in decision-making meetings.
He noted however that the proposed laws must come up with a mechanism that will help in determining the real value of minerals and actual production levels.
