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`Government should review mining laws`
2007-02-24 07:36:21
By Patrick Kisembo
The government has been advised to review mining laws in order to avoid repeating previous mistakes.
The Chairman for Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), John Cheyo was speaking yesterday in Dar es Salaam during a breakfast debate on Mining Contracts and Revenues in Tanzania hosted by two organisations—Policy Forum and HakiElimu.
`We will continue to see what the government is doing in the mining sector, because it is the constitutional right of the people to know what is going on and whether they are benefiting or not,` Cheyo said.
He said the President had initiated a good move in making mining companies contribute more to the country’s national economy.
`They should not hide anything…If they (the mining companies) are doing a good job, then let them be transparent,` insisted Cheyo, adding:`We need to know if they are making profit or losses…If they are making losses they should be in a position to explain as to why they perform poorly.`
Contributing to the debate, the Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT) Executive Director Tundu Lissu said, `We as a country have never benefited from the mining sector.`
He said the reason for the government failure to control the mining sector was as a result of provisions which implement almost all the conditions given by the multinational financial institutions, including the World Bank.
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