Nimechukua kipande hichi maalumu toka kwa Ripoti ya Mikataba ili kukipa kipaumbele na kuichanganua hoja hii kwa marefu na mapana...na kuona jinsi ya kuwasaidia hawa waandishi na wanaharakati wanaofichua mafisadi
DEMOCRACY AND CORRUPTION
That the government, pressed by the World Bank and Western donor governments, has been able to impose quite such a favourable tax regime in the country is partly down to inadequate democratic scrutiny. Several key aspects of mining in Tanzania remain shrouded in secrecy. The Tanzanian parliament has, for example, never seen any of the contracts signed by the government with the mines – except for the Buzwagi contract, which was leaked to the media. The Mineral Development Agreement (MDA) signed by the government with AGA in October 2007 remains secret and we have been unable to discover its contents. The government has repeatedly refused to make
these agreements public.92 Thus elected representatives have no ability to infl uence the specifi c terms under which foreign mining companies extract the country's most lucrative resource.
The parliamentary PAC is supposed to scrutinise the government's accounts, yet it has access to few details about exactly how much the mining companies are paying in taxes and royalties and what the government revenues from these are. The ASA report has never offi cially been made public and the whole auditing process – which was
meant to increase company accountability – was shrouded in secrecy from the beginning. ASA's Chief Executive, Dr Enrique Segura, has said: ‘We are very happy and proud of the job we have done in Tanzania. But I can't tell you more about it. This is because the auditing contract was laced with confi dentiality clauses that virtually ban the auditors from publishing their fi ndings'.93
In August 2007, the MP for Kigoma North, Zitto Kabwe, tabled a private motion to press parliament to investigate the motive behind the decision by the Energy and Minerals Minister, Nazir Karabagi, to sign the Buzwagi agreement with Barrick at a time when the government had declared it would not sign any new agreements until the
government review had been completed. A heated debate in parliament followed, after which Kabwe was actually suspended for two consecutive sittings for, allegedly, falsely accusing a senior cabinet minister of lying by insisting that the 15 per cent capital allowance clause, noted above, had been removed without parliamentary consent.
The incident indicates a willingness to silence those calling for greater scrutiny over government policy and bodes ill for Tanzanian democracy.94 Journalists and activists who report on corruption and mining have consistently been the subject of pressure and even death threats from unspecifi ed sources. One of the authors of this report has had his home and office raided by police, was arrested and detained in police cells and has faced sedition charges in court since May
DEMOCRACY AND CORRUPTION
That the government, pressed by the World Bank and Western donor governments, has been able to impose quite such a favourable tax regime in the country is partly down to inadequate democratic scrutiny. Several key aspects of mining in Tanzania remain shrouded in secrecy. The Tanzanian parliament has, for example, never seen any of the contracts signed by the government with the mines – except for the Buzwagi contract, which was leaked to the media. The Mineral Development Agreement (MDA) signed by the government with AGA in October 2007 remains secret and we have been unable to discover its contents. The government has repeatedly refused to make
these agreements public.92 Thus elected representatives have no ability to infl uence the specifi c terms under which foreign mining companies extract the country's most lucrative resource.
The parliamentary PAC is supposed to scrutinise the government's accounts, yet it has access to few details about exactly how much the mining companies are paying in taxes and royalties and what the government revenues from these are. The ASA report has never offi cially been made public and the whole auditing process – which was
meant to increase company accountability – was shrouded in secrecy from the beginning. ASA's Chief Executive, Dr Enrique Segura, has said: ‘We are very happy and proud of the job we have done in Tanzania. But I can't tell you more about it. This is because the auditing contract was laced with confi dentiality clauses that virtually ban the auditors from publishing their fi ndings'.93
In August 2007, the MP for Kigoma North, Zitto Kabwe, tabled a private motion to press parliament to investigate the motive behind the decision by the Energy and Minerals Minister, Nazir Karabagi, to sign the Buzwagi agreement with Barrick at a time when the government had declared it would not sign any new agreements until the
government review had been completed. A heated debate in parliament followed, after which Kabwe was actually suspended for two consecutive sittings for, allegedly, falsely accusing a senior cabinet minister of lying by insisting that the 15 per cent capital allowance clause, noted above, had been removed without parliamentary consent.
The incident indicates a willingness to silence those calling for greater scrutiny over government policy and bodes ill for Tanzanian democracy.94 Journalists and activists who report on corruption and mining have consistently been the subject of pressure and even death threats from unspecifi ed sources. One of the authors of this report has had his home and office raided by police, was arrested and detained in police cells and has faced sedition charges in court since May
