Zanzibar says no oil sharing
By Salma Said and Orton Kiishweko, Zanzibar
THE CITIZEN
The sensitive issue of sharing of resources between Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland cropped up in the House of Representatives yesterday as the debate on the sovereignty of the Isles refused to die.
Zanzibar's Minister for Natural Resources, Works, Energy and Lands, Mr Mansour Yussuf Himid, declared that any oil extracted in Zanzibar would not be shared with the mainland.
He told the House of Representatives that Zanzibar had not benefited from natural gas discoveries on the mainland to warrant sharing of oil in the event of commercially viable deposits being found in Pemba and Unguja.
Honourable Speaker, I regret to say that since I became a member of the cabinet in 2000, I don't understand anything concerning the distribution of natural gas that has been discovered and is accruing revenue in Tanzania mainland, he said.
Mr Himid said he was being honest to the public by stating the fact that Zanzibaris had never benefited from the natural gas produced on the mainland. He said that once the extraction of oil started in Zanzibar, it would first and foremost be for the benefit of the Isles.
The minister's remarks during the ongoing budget session drew support among both Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and opposition Civic United Front (CUF) representatives who later, and unlike the case for other ministries, unanimously endorsed his budget proposals.
The declaration on oil sharing echoed similar sentiments that were publicly made in the past by Chief Minister Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, but significantly mirrored in on the ongoing controversy whether Zanzibar was a country with sovereign mandate outside the union government.
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Pandu Ameir Kificho, was on Wednesday evening forced to defer two private members motions from CCM and CUF in which they petitioned his office to suspend the budget session and allow for a full debate of the controversy of the Isle's status.
Mr Kificho barred the motions while pleading for more time to reflect on the enormity of the matter while also reminding the representatives that the two governments had been directed by Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda to look into the matter.
The Speaker however said he would make a final ruling after wide consultations but also pleaded that the union Parliament in Dodoma ceases forthwith from raising up the matter as it heightened the tension and existing suspicions.
He told The Citizen in an interview yesterday: Zanzibar government should sit and get the actual interpretation on it's
Status. He said: �it's significant, and we should give it the consideration it deserves. Both sides know that there has been misinterpretation of the constitution on both the Union Government and the government of Zanzibar.
I have decided that the House of Representatives stops discussing it to give room to the Union and Zanzibar governments to get a way out, He said adding the issue could end up in the constitutional court.
But Zanzibar's opposition leader Abubakar Khamis Bakari who lodged one of the the petitions over what he said was a constitutional crisis over Zanzibar's status yesterday vowed that he will not withdraw his motion.
He said the House of Representatives, which had the mandate of Zanzibaris, is a supreme organ which directs the government.
If the speaker is a true Zanzibari, he should view this matter as urgently important for all of us, said Khamis.
In Dodoma yesterday, the Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda once again stood his ground in defending the constitutional interpretation of the status of Zanzibar.
He told parliamentarians that allowing Zanzibar's sovereignty would be a drawback to the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar that created the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964.
There is already a countrywide debate on that issue, despite my advice to leave it to lawyers. Let me remind you that when
Zanzibar and Tanganyika united in 1964, both Tanganyika and Zanzibar lost their sovereignty. Giving Zanzibar sovereignty will mean ending the Union and I would not like to be among the pioneers of ending the
union, he said.
Mr Pinda was answering questions from the leader of opposition in the Union Parliament, Hamad Rashid Mohammed (Wawi-CUF) and His Mji Mkongwe counterpart, Ibrahim Sanya. The former wanted to know what steps had been taken so far following the PM's directives while the latter asked why the constitution cannot be changed so as to allow Zanzibar to become a member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
In 1992, Zanzibar caused something of a stir when it unilaterally joined OIC membership without apparently consulting the Union Government. However its membership lasted only one year because the OIC under its rules only accepted sovereign states.
Earlier during the ministerial budget debate, Minister Yussuf indicated in 1984, petroleum was listed as one of the union shared resource but said Zanzibar has been left out of the gas revenue.
He said he was privy to the two government's appointment of a Norwegian consultant to advice on the sharing of gas and petroleum products and urged the members to freely give their views when the consultant approached them.
On Wednesday, Civic United Front (CUF) Secretary General Maalim Seif came
out strongly against mr Pinda's stance.
He said Pinda had annoyed Zanzibaris and said No body will take away Zanzibar as we just look on.
He was addressing a crowd of over 2000 people at Unguja. We expected Pinda and the Chief Minister Nahodha to come out and give the Government's joint position but they have all kept quiet.