With
the prolific untold story of the on-going killings of people with albinism in
Lake Zone regions in the country, the Geita Gold Mining Limited (GGML) which is
located in Geita region has announced to put hand in helping to eradicate the escalating
phenomena. It has been learnt. The Vice- president of the AngloGold Ashanti
group in Tanzania Simon Shayo said yesterday in Dar es Salaam that, his company
has resolved to help investigate the inside of the matter in an effort to ease
the government’s move into exposing people engaged in such malpractices so that
people with albinism should live peacefully. Shayo revealed his company’s plans
when contributing to a debate at a breakfast talk organized by Policy Forum to discuss the subject titled, “Corporate Social Responsibility in Tanzania mining sector, is it an
option of obligation”, the forum was held at New Africa Hotel. In his presentation
he said that, his firm has outlined an action plan which would involve leaders
of villages surrounding the mine and others from where such incidences happened.
Others he said are ordinary people, officials from district councils in the
region, human right activists, local and International organizations which are
after people’s rights and lawyers. He said, his company which operates the GGM
in Geita town has felt pity over the matter an aspect that have become so eager
to investigate the inside of the killings which surprisingly used to occur at
every time whenever general election is approaching in the country. “The idea
is part of the corporate social responsibilities (CSR) among other things that
the company is engaged with”, he said adding that his company has set aside Sh.
10 million for preliminary preparations to facilitate the project. In his
earlier presentation to the topic in discussion, Shayo said that in the
previous financial year, his mining company has spent a total of Sh. 1.3
billion in the fight over malaria disease and Sh. 10.1 billion on education,
and Sh. 8.1 billion for water supply and sanitation as part of its CSR to the
people in villages surrounding the gold mine. Either he noted that, since it
started operation in year 2000 up to now, the mining company has employed about
3,500 Tanzanians and has paid tax a total of Sh. 909.5 billion to the government
coffers. Earlier, discussants over the topic poured much
blame to the government when the topic was put across to the audience for
discussion, with some saying that, the government is not serious to look at the
welfare of the small scale miners in various mining sites in the country. Some
discussants noted that, there was a need for the government to formulate the
CSR policy that would guide giant operating mining companies in the country and
the prospective gas investors so that, they should contribute more for the CSR
to the local people.
The Vice- president of the AngloGold Ashanti
group in Tanzania Simon Shayo
Elaborating on the idea, the Vice-President of Tanganyika
Law Society, Advocate Flaviana Charles noted that it was a shameful thing to
see that, most mining companies are not engaged in road infrastructures in
areas where they operate. She said that one could feel ashamed to see that,
Geita town is still having untarmaked roads that pollute dust all over the
skies as a car runs along. However, she is of the view of the fact that, Geita
should have looked like Johannesburg city of South Africa once used to be the
city of Gold. Another contributor, Maurine Msangi whom is a policy and advocacy
officer of the ACT Pact Tanzania noted that, “seemingly as the government has
not acted so actively and more seriously, as people could get mutual benefits
in the first hand for 50 and 50 percent rate for CSR activities. Maurine is on
the view of the fact that, the government should have put a stringent condition
as an obligation to introduce a National Policy for CSR as this is a serious development
issue for the rural people where mining activities are taking place. However,
she noted that it is shameful to see that our rural people are still living in
abject poverty for there is none of the government initiative being undertaken
in order to let people enjoy the investments on their land. Ibrahim Bakari of a
Dar es Salaam based International Development Consultancy (IDC) firm, talked on
the resettlement policy framework that should be introduced by the government
through the ministry of Lands and Human Settlement. He said through the policy,
rural people would benefit a lot especially in areas where investments are
taking place. He further noted that, then policy would make it open land
annexation from the indigenous people for compensation without crisis.
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