Canadian NGOs question envoy's tete-a-tete with Tanzanian MPs
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
CIVIL society organizations in Canada have voiced concern that their government may be putting pressure on members of the Tanzanian Parliament to ignore the recommendations contained in the final report of the mining sector review committee chaired by former Judge Mark Bomani.
A group of Canadian NGOs last week formally wrote to the country's Foreign Affairs Minister, David Emerson, demanding clarification on reports that the Canadian government has been actively lobbying Tanzanian MPs not to endorse the Bomani Committee report.
''On behalf of the Africa-Canada Forum, a working group of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, we would like to have clarification on meetings between Canadian High Commission staff and Tanzanian legislators on the report of the Presidential Mining Sector Review Committee, and the Canadian government's position on the Committee's report,'' said the letter from the Canadian Council for International Co-operation to foreign affairs minister Emerson.
''Canadian and Tanzanian civil society organizations are concerned that Canada may be pressuring Tanzanian legislators not to endorse the report,'' it added.
The letter, dated July 23, was also copied to Canada's International Trade Minister Michael Fortier; the country's High Commissioner to Tanzania, Ms Janet Siddall; and Tanzania�s own High Commissioner to Canada, Peter Kallaghe.
It asserted that the mining sector review process was a ''significant effort by the government of Tanzania to re-examine mining investment in the country'', in order to ensure democratic governance and ownership.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has already taken a similar approach which ''looks poised to nullify or renegotiate a number of unfair contracts,'' the letter further noted.
According to the Canadian civil society statement, the Bomani Committee recommendations include the establishment of a ''national mining authority'' charged with supervising all mining activity in Tanzania.
''The committee also proposes changes to taxation and royalties paid by the mining sector, to reflect more appropriately what is owed to the Tanzanian government,'' it stated.
It quoted organs like Canada's standing committee on foreign affairs and international trade (SCFAIT), and ''the consensus-based Final Report from the National Roundtables'' as making heated calls for fair deals with Tanzania and other countries.
According to the CSOs statement, SCFAIT is seeking the adoption of measures that ''make Canadian government support such as export and project financing and services offered by Canadian missions abroad conditional on companies meeting clearly-defined corporate social responsibility and human rights standards, particularly through the mechanism of human rights impact assessments.''
On the other hand, the National Roundtables report recommends that the Canadian government, ''while respecting the national sovereignty of developing countries that seek to promote economic and social development through investment in the extractive sector, should work with these countries' governments to develop strategies consistent with optimizing benefits of extractive projects.''
The Roundtables report also called for the establishment of Canadian corporate social responsibility standards, and the appointment of an independent ombudsperson to monitor compliance with these standards, said the CSOs' statement.
But it also noted that over 15 months since this report was released, the Canadian government has yet to implement any of its recommendations.
Said the CSOs' statement: ''We urge the Canadian High Commission in Tanzania to follow the SCFAIT and Roundtables recommendations in its dealings with Tanzanian legislators.''
Going further, it also quotes a recent statement from the Africa Initiative on Mining, Environment and Society, adopted by 39 African members including representatives from Tanzania, which calls for ''all pressures and policy prescriptions for Africa and African governments to cease forthwith, so as to allow African governments and people to enjoy the right to policy choices, and review their laws and mining contracts without any limitation.''
The CSOs' statement concludes with a call to ''promote and ensure that Africa optimizes the benefits of its mineral potentials in ways that guarantee national economic development, human rights, environmental sustainability, and promotion of community interest.
''With Tanzania, Canada has the opportunity to show leadership in corporate social responsibility in the extractive industries. We are convinced that Canada can demonstrate its commitment to promote the kind of development that Africans envision for themselves, and that so many Canadians support.''
Contacted for comment, Judge Bomani told THISDAY that although he personally has not seen a copy of the letter itself, he has heard reports about such concerns from Canadian civil society organizations.
''It is pleasing to see that there are some people out there who value the work of our committee,'' said Bomani.
On Thursday last week, a local legislator questioned the reports of ongoing negotiations between the Tanzanian and Canadian governments for an agreement aimed at protecting the interests of Canadian investor companies in the country, including the mining giant Barrick Gold Corporation.
Speaking during the Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) weekly session in the National Assembly, Zitto Kabwe (Kigoma North - CHADEMA) asked Premier Mizengo Pinda to explain the motives behind such talks apparently geared towards finalizing a legally-binding Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) between the two countries.
The MP expressed concern that the proposed agreement could effectively cancel out the work of the Bomani Committee, of which he (Zitto) was also a member.
Responding, premier Pinda told the House that he was not aware about such ongoing negotiations between Tanzania and Canada, and asked for more time to come up with an informed answer.
THISDAY recently reported that the Canadian High Commissioner to Tanzania, Ms Siddall, and other officials from the embassy in Dar es Salaam were in Dodoma on a particularly aggressive mission to lobby local MPs about their positions on the Bomani Committee report findings.
Parliamentary sources confirmed that the Canadian delegation had been in private talks with influential legislators from both the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the Opposition camp.
