While the Act emphasizes on transparency in the sector, The Petroleum Act 2015 and The Mining Act CAP 123, are against the wishes of the global Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.
Dar es Salaam. Seventeen civil society organizations (CSOs) working on strategic issues around minerals, oil, and gas extraction in Tanzania have raised six issues that they say require a national debate, including violence and the weak participation of women in the sector in the country.
Speaking to The Citizen, the Secretary General of the Tanzania Women Miners Association (Tawoma), Salma Kundi has said poor beliefs are still visible in the mining areas of the Lake Zone and Chunya Region, where women are barred from entering the mines.
"There are some tribes that completely prevent women from participating in mining activities due to the belief that mineral production may be lost, this needs a national debate because it weakens efforts to liberate women economically," said Salma, four days before 2022 national forum in Dodoma.
The CEO of the network, Adam Anthony named other issues that need a national dialogue as challenges of transparency and accountability in the sector, despite the existence of the Tanzania Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (TEITI) Act of 2015.
While the Act emphasizes on transparency in the sector, The Petroleum Act 2015 and The Mining Act CAP 123, are against the wishes of the global Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.
"This forum always aims to influence the creation of better laws and policies, better management of the income of the extractive sector and to encourage the voices of the community to get involved in the processes of the extractive sector," said Anthony.
"Every year we organize this debate, but we see issues of sexual violence against women still exist, issues of indigenous participation have been there for all the years but are still part of the debate."
Another issue is the improvement of revenue collection methods and attracting investment in the country as well as the assessment of the contribution of strategic minerals including Graphite found in Ulanga, Morogoro region.
Another issue is to discuss the challenges and problems of society in the sector, the system of women's participation in the sector and international politics.
Project Manager, Advocacy, and Communication Services of the network, Lucy Shao, said that the platforms have had positive results since they started in 2010.
"For example, the 2019 forum raised issues for compensation for the people in the LNG Project, we have seen the results with people being compensated, women also raised the obstacles of the nature of inspection at the Tanzanite mines located in Mererani, Manyara region," she said.
