Align regional mining policies to enjoy supreme benefits

Weak and parallel legislation is undermining transparent exploitation of resources.

Kampala.

East African member states should develop a regional mining policy in line with the continent to reap maximum tax revenues, the East African Legislative Assembly has said.

Adopted by African Union heads of State summit three years ago, the Africa Mining Vision 2050 (AMV) aims to boost transparency and integrate mining into development policies to fight poverty at community, national and regional levels.

The Assembly wants the five EAC countries — Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi to establish an institutional mechanism to oversee mining regimes.

The policy, when in place, will help in coordinating and monitoring partner states’ compliance and adherence to good governance in managing natural resources within the region.
The meeting further sought to ensure a collective understanding of existing ownership and revenue models to understand the revenue risks in the existing policies.

Dr Martin Nduwimana said: “The region has ample natural resources but still languishes in poverty.”