Wabunge Canada wahoji ziara ya Waziri Mkuu wao nchini Tanzania

Wabunge Canada wahoji ziara ya Waziri Mkuu wao nchini Tanzania
Na Mwandishi Wetu
Mwananchi
Posted Date::11/28/2007

ZIARA ya Waziri Mkuu wa Canada Stephen Harper nchini, imeibua mambo mapya, baada ya baadhi ya wabunge na viongozi wa serikali ya nchi yake, kupinga kukutana na uongozi wa Kampuni ya Madini ya Barrick katika kikao cha faragha.

Kabla ya kumaliza ziara yake, Harper alikuwa na kikao cha siri kilichoandaliwa na Ubalozi wa Canada nchini na kudumu kwa dakika 45, kuzungumza na makampuni ya Canada ikiwemo ya Barrick.

Paul Dewar, Mbunge wa Jimbo la Ottawa ya Kati (NDP), alisema Harper alipaswa kukutana na watu walioathirika na uamuzi wa kampuni hiyo kuwafukuza kazi baadhi ya wafanyakazi wake na kujua hatma yao.

"Kampuni ya Barrick imesababisha mtafaruku kwenye jamii ya Watanzania, Waziri Mkuu alitakiwa akutane moja kwa moja na watu walioathirika na maamuzi ya Barrick kuwafukuza wafanyakazi wake wasio na chombo cha kuwatetea badala ya kukutana na uongozi wa kampuni," alisema Dewar ambaye pia ni Waziri Kivuli wa Mambo ya Nje, katika mahojiano na Gazeti la Toronto Star juzi. na kuongeza;

Alipaswa kuangalia mazingira halisi ya kampuni hii kushindwa kujali usalama wa wafanyakazi hao.

Vilevile, Joan Kuyek Mratibu wa Kitaifa wa Kikundi kinachofuatialia taratibu za uchimbaji madini kwenye migodi cha MiningWatch, alisema kitendo cha Kampuni ya Barrack kutojali maslahi ya wafanyakazi wake katika nchi za Chile na Tanzania, kinakiuka taratibu za kimataifa za uchimbaji madini.

Alisema nchini Chile, Kampuni hiyo imekuwa ikilalamikiwa kwa uharibifu wa mazingira na kutojali usalama wa wafanyakazi wake, mambo ambayo pia yamekuwa yakilalamikiwa Tanzania.

Kama Waziri Mkuu Harper amekutana na wawakilishi kutoka Barrick pekee na hakukutana na wachimbaji wadogo, wala watu wanaoshughulikia athari za kijamii, kiuchumi na kimazingira kwenye maeneo ya migodi nchini Tanzania, wala wawakilishi wao, hii inashtua sana! alisema Kuyek.

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Bubu
Inafurahisha sana kuona kuwa hata wenyewe wacanada wanajua kuwa Makampuni yao yanakiuka taratibu, na wabunge wanadiriki hata kusema. Nashangaa kuwa hapa nyumbani hata hakuna mbunge aliyepinga ziara ya Harper.

Tuna bunge ndugu yangu! ni uchwara tu! Bunge gani ambalo linatetea haki ya Watanzania linakaa kimya miaka yote hii wakati details za mikataba hiyo mpaka leo zimefanywa siri! The so called wabunge wamekaa kimya! ni wasanii tu hao wasioitakia mema nchi yetu wameweka mbele maslahi yao na ya matumbo yao.

PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL

IDN: 073310156

DATE: 2007.11.27

PAGE: A23

BYLINE: ALAN FREEMAN WITH A REPORT FROM GLORIA GALLOWAY IN OTTAWA

SECTION: International News

EDITION: Metro

DATELINE: DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA

WORDS: 931

WORD COUNT: 858


FOREIGN AID: HARPER IN AFRICA Controversy over mining overshadows health initiative PM announces $105-million contribution, but Barrick is top concern of Tanzanians

ALAN FREEMAN with a report from Gloria Galloway in Ottawa
DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA

The goal was to leave the image of a benevolent Canada investing in the health of poor Africans, but in the end it was another Canada, that of its globe-hopping mining companies, that stole the day.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper spent eight hours yesterday in this commercial centre on the Indian Ocean, visiting a school, lunching with Tanzania's President and announcing a $105-million contribution to a new health-care initiative in Africa and Asia.

Yet it was a 45-minute meeting with officials from a dozen Canadian investors, led by mining giant Barrick Gold Corp., that dominated Mr.
Harper's news conference with President Jakaya Kikwete.

Thanks in large part to Barrick's three gold mines, Canada has emerged as Tanzania's largest foreign investor, prompting a resource boom that helped Tanzania record a 6.2-per-cent growth rate last year.

Yet the mining success has prompted allegations that royalties are too low and that Tanzania's people, still among the world's poorest, are not sharing adequately in the bonanza.

Adding to this is a nasty labour dispute at Barrick's Bulyanhulu gold mine, where 1,000 of the 1,900 workers have been on what the company calls an illegal strike for the past month.

A court hearing scheduled for yesterday, at which the union hoped to obtain an injunction to stop Barrick from hiring replacement workers, was postponed to today for reasons that were unclear.

Mr. Harper would not comment on the strike other than to say that he expects Canadian companies to "act responsibly within the laws of the land" when they are abroad. He praised Tanzania for creating a stable political and business environment that encourages Canadian companies to invest.

Mr. Kikwete was also diplomatic when the subject turned to Canada's investment in the mining industry and in particular the work of a committee created to advise the Tanzanian government on whether to change the royalty regime.

"We are not blaming the mining companies," the President said, noting that the companies are living within Tanzanian law.

He added that the goal of the review is to achieve a "win-win situation"
for the companies and the government.

"We'd like to see more and more Canadian investment," Mr. Kikwete said.

It was the second time in recent months that Mr. Harper had met Barrick officials during an international trip. In July, he stopped off at Barrick's offices in Santiago, Chile, where the company is developing the massive Pascua Lama mining project in the Andes, despite protests from environmentalists.

Joan Kuyek, the national co-ordinator of MiningWatch, a group that critiques what it sees as irresponsible mining practices around the world, says Barrick's Tanzanian operation displaced thousands of small-scale miners and gives little back to Tanzania.

"If Mr. Harper met only with people chosen to have him meet with and didn't meet with the small-scale miners, didn't meet with the people who have to deal with the social and economic and environmental price that these mines are racking up in Tanzania, and didn't meet with their representatives, well I think that's pretty shocking," Ms. Kuyek said.

But Vince Borg, vice-president of communications for Barrick, said the displacement occurred before Barrick took over the Tanzania operation and that the ombudsman for the World Bank has found that the numbers of displaced people have been exaggerated. And, Mr.

Borg said, the company has been "generating substantial economic and social benefits for thousands of Tanzanians." The scheduled highlight of Mr.

Harper's visit, which came after the Prime Minister's participation in the Commonwealth leaders summit in neighbouring Uganda, was his announcement of a $105-million Canadian contribution to a health-promotion program in Africa and Asia.

The goal of the Canadian-led program is to raise as much as $500-million to support basic health services, including training for 40,000 health workers; measles and MMR inoculations; insecticide-treated bed nets to protect children and pregnant women from malaria; antibiotics to fight pneumonia and a range of other health projects.

Mr. Harper said Canada remains on track to double its international aid to Africa to $2.1-billion in 2008-09 from a base of $1.05-billion in 2003-04.

But non-governmental groups have expressed concern that Africa is no longer a foreign-policy priority for Mr. Harper, who has emphasized Canada's commitment to Afghanistan and a renewed interest in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mr. Harper was greeted earlier in the day at the airport by Mr.

Kikwete, Tanzania's top general, a military band, a phalanx of traditional dancers, a unicyclist and a man on stilts. He was immediately whisked off to a nearby primary school where hundreds of enthusiastic pupils, dressed in white and blue uniforms, greeted him waving Canadian and Tanzanian flags and singing at the top of their lungs in Swahili, "Tanzania, We Love You, Tanzania." Fighting off the 37-degree heat and his discomfort with crowds, a smiling Mr. Harper was ushered into a preschool class where children were being quizzed in Swahili and English on their knowledge of animal names.

Mr. Harper bantered with Mr. Kikwete but engaged only briefly with the children. Toward the end of the brief encounter, the President asked a child: "What's his name?" "Har-per," responded the child, to which a grinning Prime Minister responded with a personal round of applause.

Mr. Harper is the first Canadian Prime Minister to visit Tanzania since Pierre Trudeau came here in 1978.

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Kikwete is pupet, look at his reaction toward Barrick non sense. He claimed that "We are not blaming the mining companies," , who do we need to blame, i'm tired of this guy, honest i'm fed up.

Harper pledges more money to Africa, admits Canada's **>foreign aid<** declining (Cda-Tanzania)By Alexander Panetta

THE CANADIAN PRESS

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania
Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrapped his African tour on Monday in Tanzania pledging $105 million to a global initiative aimed at improving living conditions in Africa and promising to double Canada's aid to the impoverished continent.

But the prime minister also admitted that Canada's **>foreign aid<** levels have declined below the average for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, attributing it to the unexpected surge in the country's economy.

``That's simply explained by the fact our economic growth in the past 18 months has been much stronger than we expected,'' said Harper.

``But we recognize we do still have some work to do to achieve the target we've set for ourselves,'' he said.

Canada's aid to other countries was 0.35 per cent of economic output in 2005. It fell to 0.3 per cent in 2006 and is expected to fall to 0.29 by 2010, according to Ministry of Finance documents obtained by CTV News.

Harper also said Canada is set to meet a pledge to double aid to Africa by fiscal year 2008 _ a pledge started by the former Liberal government.

Harper committed $105 million over the next five years for the global initiative known as Catalytic Initiative To Save A Million Lives, a $500 million project to provide health-care services for poor mothers and children in Africa and Asia.

Harper made the announcement after a luncheon with Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete. The visit came a day after the end of the Commonwealth summit on climate change in Uganda, where Harper characterized the Kyoto accord as a flawed document.

UNICEF Canada will handle Ottawa's $105 million contribution to the initiative. The money comes from the government's commitment of $450 million to Africa's health system at a G8 summit last year. The organization said the funding will go toward efforts to save children in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and other places.

UNICEF Canada pledged another $105 million of its own to the initiative on Monday saying it will be spent on services such as training health workers, immunization, anti-retroviral medication, community-level health education, and the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, anti-malarial drugs and antibiotics.

Other partners in the initiative include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the governments of Norway, the United States, Britain and Australia, the World Health Organization and the World Bank.

According to UNICEF, global deaths of children under five from preventable diseases have reached a record low, falling to 9.7 million per year, down from almost 13 million in 1990.

Harper said Canada has taken a lead role in the initiative, which when fully implemented ``it will help save over 500 lives daily.''

The newly pledged money will support the training of about 40,000 front-line health care workers to provide services to children and new mothers, Harper said.

The Tanzanian president thanked Canada for its assistance and for
$83 million relief in foreign debt, money that Kikwette went to poverty eradication programs and into health, education and infrastructure sectors.

Canada has contributed one billion dollars to Tanzania since 1961, said Harper.

Earlier Monday, the prime minister shook hands with children and watched them recite the names of animals in English during a visit to an elementary school in the capital. He clapped his hands while they sang for him in a classroom that was sweltering in 37 degree Celsius heat and packed with media crews.

The final day of the prime minister's Africa tour underscored both the challenges and opportunities on the world's poorest continent, and Canada's role there.

It was Harper's other meeting with Canadian businesses, including a Toronto-based company that local workers accuse of unfair labour practices, that kept reporters guessing.

The afternoon meeting was left off the official agenda released by the Prime Minister's Office. When Canadian reporters heard about it from their Tanzanian colleagues, they were told the meeting was private and no details were provided.

Canadian companies are the biggest investor in Tanzania's gold mining and oil and gas exploration, and ``no other countries compare with Canada,'' said Kikwete. Those companies have helped contribute to an impressive 6.2 per cent increase in Tanzania's GDP growth in 2006, and the country credits **>foreign aid<** with helping get almost all children into classrooms.

But the standard of living in this country of about 39 million people remains low and, according to government statistics, unemployment stands at 11 per cent and as high as 31.4 per cent in the capital. Per capita income in Africa's third-biggest gold producer was $320 in 2006.

But the process hasn't been always smooth, and at least one company has made international headlines after disputes with its workers have led to protests and, more recently, threaten to result in a court case.

Miners working at the Toronto-based Barrick Gold's Bulyanhulu gold mine have complained of inequalities in salaries between foreign and local workers, and non-payment of health and risk allowances as well as bonuses to local workers.

The miners went on strike last month and vow to continue until the company meets their demands.

But Barrick has called the strike illegal and says it will hire new workers to replace about 1,000 miners that continue their strike. The miners say they will challenge that move in court.

Barrick was among the businesses Harper met with on Monday afternoon.

Harper finally acknowledged the meeting at a news conference.

``We always expect our companies to act responsibly and within the laws of the land of the countries they find themselves located in,'' said Harper, declining to comment on specific companies.

But the issue that appeared to dominate the media interest was a recent decision by Tanzania's government to review its royalty policy, an issue familiar to Canada where oil- rich Alberta announced last month it was charging energy companies 20 per cent more for the right to develop oil and gas resources.

``We're not trying to create a situation where they (foreign
companies) would lose out and we would win,'' President Kikwete told reporters.

``We want to create a win -win situation,'' he said.

Harper said he would never ``tell another country how to run its affairs.''

``I would simply say that in our view, the Tanzanian government has made remarkable steps forward in creating a stable environment for business investment, and I think it's important to have rules of the game that are understood, are going to be there for the long term,'' Harper said.

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Sure kikwete is really boring president ! He is a blabla man ! why is making a fool of us! I wish to shoot him when i get a chance! wish him dead !

I supported JK for the office, but i made a big mistake. This guy is coward, little chicken and yellow-bell. Actual i believe he is sick. I wish upinzani could be strong, so we can see changes.

Too harsh.

Viongozi wetu wajue kuwa haki na maslahi ya watanzania ni bora kuliko uwekezaji usio na tija yeyote.
Hapa kwetu mtu akisema chochote kuhusu uwekezaji wa aina yeyote anaonekana ni kama mtu aliyechanganyikiwa,mitizamo hii mibovu kwa viongozi wetu wanatakiwa kubadilisha mitizamo yao na wasifikiri bila wao nchi haitapata viongozi waadilifu,kusema kweli viongozi waadilifu tunao wengi lakini hawapewi nafasi ya kuongoza na hii inatokana na mbinu chafu zinazo ashiria rushwa katika kutafuta uongozi.