7O Billion lost in Bad mining contracts. Tanzania suffers.
The signing of lopsided mining contracts by highly placed government officials is reported to be causing Tanzania financial loss of 50m US dollars (70bn Tanzanian shillings) per annum.
Since the signing of such contracts ten years ago, Tanzania could be said to have lost 500m US dollars (700bn Tanzanian shillings), quite a staggering sum which could have changed, considerably, the country's economy had such contracts been designed in a way that would have been beneficial to the country.
The foregoing figure was pointed out by officials of the opposition Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) during their campaign rallies in the run up to the Busanda constituency by-election scheduled for Sunday, May 24th 2009.
Although the financial figure Tanzania is alleged to have been losing since it first allowed in investors in the mining sector is staggering. Chadema officials' allegation on the massive financial loss was quoted by a privately owned local television station, ITV during its 8pm news bulletin aired on Monday, May 18th 2009.
The figures are also collaborated by an independent study on Gold Mining in Tanzania commissioned by religious organizations in Tanzania in 2008. According to the report titled: Golden Opportunity; How Tanzania is failing to Benefit from Gold Mining, published by Tanzania's religious organizations, Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), The National Muslim Council (BAKWATA) and the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT), the combined lost income to Tanzania arising from low royality rate, unpaid corporation tax and alleged tax evasion is at least USD400million over the past seven years.
'This is a very conservative estimate, in that it does not cover all the gold mining companies or all figures for the past seven years (which are not publicly available). Neither does it cover the financial costs of other tax incentives such as VAT exemption, which are extremely difficult to estimate. These extra revenues could of course provide a huge boost to tackling poverty in Tanzania' the report reads in part.
The environmental impact of dubious Mining Activities in Tanzania.
Combined with the allegations of corruption and dubious mining. contracts are the environmental aftermath from the mining operations in Tanzania.
The environmental impact from Mining operations is not only threatening the social livelihoods of communities living around the mining operations but its negative ramifications to development may be very difficult to determine. One example of such devastating set back to development includes the Toxic spill and environmental disaster which was reported in May 2009 at the Canadian Barrick Gold's North Mara Mine.
According to well informed sources, chemically contaminated water from the mine's storage pond overflew into the nearby Tigithe River and thereby threatening human, livestock and plants. The overflowing of the water from the pond is said to have been caused by heavy rains that fell in the area and vandalism of the plastic sheeting of the water ponds.
The local residents from the area however dispute this and attribute the toxic spill to sheer 'negligence' on the part of the Gold Mining Company and government's failure to put large scale Mining Companies under close scrutiny. The Mining Contracts signed under dubious circumstances, involving corrupt government officials, contain claw back provisions that have tacitly compelled the Government to keep a 'hands off' stance from the Mining Companies and thus allowed them to reap the mining resources with minimal interference and less regard for the economic and environmental impacts accruing from mining activities in the Country.
A Dar es Salaam based investigative English daily, THISDAY quotes the Tarime District Councillor, Mr Agostino 'Neto' Sasi as saying that trees along the river bank are now dying and at least three children and one elderly man have experienced skin problems after coming into contact with the water. "The river has overflowed into the surrounding fields and caused crops such as millet, maize and sorghum also to dry up. At least five cows have died from drinking water from the river."
The Matongo Ward Councillor, Machage B. Machage said cattle, fish and plants were dying as a result of the chemically contaminated water. He said efforts to seek government assistance by scientifically testing the water had not borne fruits as the latter insisted, after testing the water, that the liquid was safe.
He however, said that when they asked those who had carried out the tests from the government to drink the water they had claimed to be safe both for human and livestock consumption, they refused!
Machage said they had asked for government's assistance in testing the water because they did not accept Barrick Gold's continued claim that the water was safe.
On Monday, Mr Sasi who is a retired Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces soldier told a radio journalist that his belief that the water in their area was contaminated lay in the fact that it had no living things such as fish. He said during his tenure in the army, they had been educated to drink water in the forest if they found it to be containing living things such as fish and other living organisms.
"Water that is still and does not contain any living organisms is not fit for human consumption", he said in apparent response to a question on what made him think that the water was contaminated when he could not provide scientific evidence.
What has inflicted people, livestock, fish and plants in Mr Sasi's area is tragic and the environmental degradation it has caused and continues to in its wake will not only take a long time to repair but would also cost the nation heavily.
Unfortunately this is not the first time that people from the area are complaining about the contamination of water from their area.
Residents from the area have from time to time raised the red flag, but no one, least of all the government which was in the first place involved in the signing of the contract has shown any interest!
The signing of lopsided mining contracts by highly placed government officials is reported to be causing Tanzania financial loss of 50m US dollars (70bn Tanzanian shillings) per annum.
Since the signing of such contracts ten years ago, Tanzania could be said to have lost 500m US dollars (700bn Tanzanian shillings), quite a staggering sum which could have changed, considerably, the country's economy had such contracts been designed in a way that would have been beneficial to the country.
The foregoing figure was pointed out by officials of the opposition Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) during their campaign rallies in the run up to the Busanda constituency by-election scheduled for Sunday, May 24th 2009.
Although the financial figure Tanzania is alleged to have been losing since it first allowed in investors in the mining sector is staggering. Chadema officials' allegation on the massive financial loss was quoted by a privately owned local television station, ITV during its 8pm news bulletin aired on Monday, May 18th 2009.
The figures are also collaborated by an independent study on Gold Mining in Tanzania commissioned by religious organizations in Tanzania in 2008. According to the report titled: Golden Opportunity; How Tanzania is failing to Benefit from Gold Mining, published by Tanzania's religious organizations, Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), The National Muslim Council (BAKWATA) and the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT), the combined lost income to Tanzania arising from low royality rate, unpaid corporation tax and alleged tax evasion is at least USD400million over the past seven years.
'This is a very conservative estimate, in that it does not cover all the gold mining companies or all figures for the past seven years (which are not publicly available). Neither does it cover the financial costs of other tax incentives such as VAT exemption, which are extremely difficult to estimate. These extra revenues could of course provide a huge boost to tackling poverty in Tanzania' the report reads in part.
The environmental impact of dubious Mining Activities in Tanzania.
Combined with the allegations of corruption and dubious mining. contracts are the environmental aftermath from the mining operations in Tanzania.
The environmental impact from Mining operations is not only threatening the social livelihoods of communities living around the mining operations but its negative ramifications to development may be very difficult to determine. One example of such devastating set back to development includes the Toxic spill and environmental disaster which was reported in May 2009 at the Canadian Barrick Gold's North Mara Mine.
According to well informed sources, chemically contaminated water from the mine's storage pond overflew into the nearby Tigithe River and thereby threatening human, livestock and plants. The overflowing of the water from the pond is said to have been caused by heavy rains that fell in the area and vandalism of the plastic sheeting of the water ponds.
The local residents from the area however dispute this and attribute the toxic spill to sheer 'negligence' on the part of the Gold Mining Company and government's failure to put large scale Mining Companies under close scrutiny. The Mining Contracts signed under dubious circumstances, involving corrupt government officials, contain claw back provisions that have tacitly compelled the Government to keep a 'hands off' stance from the Mining Companies and thus allowed them to reap the mining resources with minimal interference and less regard for the economic and environmental impacts accruing from mining activities in the Country.
A Dar es Salaam based investigative English daily, THISDAY quotes the Tarime District Councillor, Mr Agostino 'Neto' Sasi as saying that trees along the river bank are now dying and at least three children and one elderly man have experienced skin problems after coming into contact with the water. "The river has overflowed into the surrounding fields and caused crops such as millet, maize and sorghum also to dry up. At least five cows have died from drinking water from the river."
The Matongo Ward Councillor, Machage B. Machage said cattle, fish and plants were dying as a result of the chemically contaminated water. He said efforts to seek government assistance by scientifically testing the water had not borne fruits as the latter insisted, after testing the water, that the liquid was safe.
He however, said that when they asked those who had carried out the tests from the government to drink the water they had claimed to be safe both for human and livestock consumption, they refused!
Machage said they had asked for government's assistance in testing the water because they did not accept Barrick Gold's continued claim that the water was safe.
On Monday, Mr Sasi who is a retired Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces soldier told a radio journalist that his belief that the water in their area was contaminated lay in the fact that it had no living things such as fish. He said during his tenure in the army, they had been educated to drink water in the forest if they found it to be containing living things such as fish and other living organisms.
"Water that is still and does not contain any living organisms is not fit for human consumption", he said in apparent response to a question on what made him think that the water was contaminated when he could not provide scientific evidence.
What has inflicted people, livestock, fish and plants in Mr Sasi's area is tragic and the environmental degradation it has caused and continues to in its wake will not only take a long time to repair but would also cost the nation heavily.
Unfortunately this is not the first time that people from the area are complaining about the contamination of water from their area.
Residents from the area have from time to time raised the red flag, but no one, least of all the government which was in the first place involved in the signing of the contract has shown any interest!
