Ministers: Touray & Badjie, Pix by The Point

The latest appointments were made on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 with the re-appointment of Mrs. Fatim Badjie as Minister of Health and Social Welfare, and Mr. Kebba S. Touray as Minister of Trade, Industry, Employment and Regional Integration.

Mr. Touray was Gambia’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain.

According to reports by the public-funded broadcaster on Monday February 6, 2012, Mr. Abdou Kolley is now the Minister of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, a portfolio previously held by Lamin Kaba Bajo.

Kolley had previously served as minister of Trade, Industry, Employment and Regional Integration.

Reports also had it that Dr Mariama Sarr- Ceesay has maintained her position as minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology; while Dr Momodou Tangara remains minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad.

Earlier on, Yahya Jammeh reinstated four ministers: The Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs, Dr. Isatou Njie-Saidy; Minister of Tourism and Culture, Mrs. Fatou Mass Jobe-Njie; Minister of the Interior and NGO Affairs, Ousman Sonko; and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mambury Njie.

President Yahya Jammeh won a landslide November 24, 2011 election which was widely criticised and labeled not-free and fair within and without the country.

Given another five-year term of office, the fourth time running, Yahya Jammeh took his first step to form a new government having dissolved the entire cabinet shortly after his January 19, 2012 inauguration.

Michel Sidibe, one of the keynote speakers in the conference, hosted by the German government, called on the international community, “It’s time to invest.”

He thanked the German government for its cooperation for fighting HIV/AIDS globally with its long-standing commitment.

Approximately 2.7 million infections occurred globally, shows the UNAIDS 2011 report which still 7 infections occur daily in the developing world.

Dirk Niebel, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development stressed over Germany’s commitment. He said his ministry has been working with enterprises to fight HIV/AIDS and other development programs in over 40 countries.

He said, “We as the German government will remain committed to fight this phenomenon

Sidibe said, however, 34 million people are living with HIV but 5 million people are receiving treatment throughout the world but stressed, “We need to be creative and we should think differently so we could overcome all the challenges.”

In the meantime, Daniel Bahr, German Federal Minister of Health, one of other speakers in the conference said, we can only fight against HIV if we work in cooperation with international community.

He said, “We are able to join knowledge, sharing the knowledge and spread the knowledge and let the other countries use it.”

However, Germany has been succeeded to bring down the figure from HIV/AIDS infected from 3400 to 2700 in the last year.

According to UNAIDS 2011report, 1.8 million people died from AIDS-related causes in 2010 while 2.5 million deaths have been averted in low and middle-income countries since 1995 due to the roll out of the antiretroviral therapy.

PDM Spokesperson Msenga Mlungu said PDM is a movement therefore like all political movements its survival is based on commitment to particular ideals that transcend individuals including those in leadership.

Former PDM Secretary General Harry Mkandawire ditched the party in December 2011 and joined Peoples’ Party (PP) of State Vice President Joyce Banda.

Announcing his resignation at a PP rally at Mzimba Boma, Mkandawire said had no chance to unseat DPP in 2014.

Mkandawire, who helped found PDM, was a major benefactor to the party’s coffers particularly during the Rumphi Central bye elections which Aford won.

“People have speculated about PDM dying. Movements do not die because they are an idea. Movements are bigger than an individual and survive beyond any personality. Members may die, resign and or move on but not an idea, not an ideology,” Mlungu said.

He said this in a press statement titled “Issues of leaving and joining the Party” and a copy made available to The Daily IIJ.

“People joining PDM do so with sobriety in its ideology and must believe and live it. Those in PDM only for the sake of political power are in the wrong boat. Those in PDM must be there first as believers of the ideals and through that attain power for the selfless service of others,” Mlungu said.

According to Mlungu, a federal system of government remains the party’s most important ideal.

“PDM advances this position openly without any malice or evil intentions, and consistent with the freedoms of association and expression of God given ideas, as enshrined in the constitution. To be a PDM member one must believe in this ideal,” he said.

So it is not surprising that mining has come to dominate the export earnings of many African countries.
In 2005, minerals accounted for more than 80 percent of exports in Botswana, Congo, DRC, Guinea, and Sierra Leone and more than 50 percent in Zambia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, and Namibia.
By 2008, sustained demand from a burgeoning Chinese economy had seen prices for minerals reach new heights.

But there is a puzzle: “If Africa is so resource-rich, how come most of its citizens are so very poor?” Despite the fact that over half of African countries are significant mineral producers, widespread poverty is still the norm.

Meeting the challenge
So the challenge is clear: “How can underground mineral potential translate into actual development for the millions of Africans living on the surface?” There have been many policies and approaches over the years that have begun to grapple with the task, but one of the most promising is the African Mining Vision (AMV).

The vision was adopted after the first meeting of African mineral resource development ministers held in Addis Ababa in late 2008 and was subsequently endorsed by the African heads of State and government at the February 2009 African Union Summit. As such, it is Africa’s own take on the problem.

What sets the AMV apart is that it extends policy beyond a narrow focus on mining itself. For the AMV, there is more to it than to managing the extraction of resources and then finding optimal ways to collect and apportion the revenue.
It is not that these things are not important – rather, the AMV approaches the issue differently. Central to the AMV approach is to put development outcomes at the heart of mineral regimes.

How does it work? A key point is that it is applicable at many levels. For example, when mining contracts are negotiated with foreign investors not only do the right revenue gathering instruments need to be in place, there also needs to be stipulations for local supply of goods and services to the mining operation.
The rationale is that this would stimulate the local economy and help prevent mines operating as enclave enterprises.

The bigger picture
But this example hardly does justice to the scale of the ambition evoked by a mining vision. If mining is to be the motor of development, that means thinking big. One such big example would be careful planning of the major infrastructure that takes minerals to port.
That means planning strategically and asking, “why does this road follow this route from mine to port, when if it were planned differently, it could also open up potential in export agriculture?”

In fact, many natural resources in Africa are left stranded in this way because they lie far from ports and near no transport routes whatsoever. It is not only mining that has unlocked potential.

But also note how the AMV encourages synergy between mining and other sectors. Development rarely comes from exploiting a single resource – in fact that leads to dependency.
Development is about leveraging one profitable business so that it helps another. Being visionary in the AMV sense means looking ahead and planning strategically.

But to be visionary also means expanding your horizons, and for the AMV, one such horizon is Africa’s national frontiers. One of the main reasons why Africa has been held back from developing through industrialisation is that its national markets are relatively small; and there is insufficient demand in a poor country to merit major manufacturing or even much mineral processing. But seen from a regional perspective, huge economies of scale can come into play.

That is why the African Union’s NEPAD initiative has set out plans for promoting corridors of development that span nation states and link up major transport routes with mines, power, and ports.
In each of these 17 trade super highways, there is an enhanced opportunity for businesses to get established and then to support each other. The Africa Mining Vision embraces this idea of corridors, clusters and linkages, and it calls for mining to be integrated into trade and industrial policy too.

Mining is uniquely placed to become the motor of African development because it is only mining that can raise the kinds of money that is needed to construct the big infrastructure links.
Mining can take the lead. It holds the key not only to unlocking the mineral wealth below but also the human capital above.

Vision into Action
Last December saw the second session of the African Union Conference on mining matters. African experts in mining and natural resources development, representatives of African chambers of mines and industry, African private sector, academia, UN agencies and NGOs and other partners joined Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development in discussing the implementation of the Africa Mining Vision.

At their disposal, they had a major new report on Minerals and Africa’s Development. The report becomes the standard reference on which to base templates, toolkits, guidelines and briefing notes for African policy makers, government officials and other stakeholders involved in formulating and implementing new developmental mineral regimes.

The report
was compiled by a team of 20 experts – the
International Study Group (ISG) – drawn from the United
Nations, universities, civil society and the mining research
community in Africa, Europe and North America.

Chief, Infrastructure and Natural Resources
Development at the Regional Integration, Infrastructure and
Trade Division of UNECA Wilfred Lombe said: “This report concludes that
one reason that mineral wealth has not led to development in
Africa is that mining has until now often been treated as a
separate issue.
Most of the time policy decisions have been dominated by
questions of how best to tax mining
companies and then how to spend the revenue and this is a
reflection of the enclave status of much mining in
Africa.”

Mr Lombe added: “The ISG report is different because it
examines how mining could become the motor of development.
It puts mining centre stage and argues it can be a
catalyst for development rather than just a
revenue generating opportunity.”
Deputy minister of Mines and Natural Resources Richard Musukwa, is keen to see Zambia maximise benefits from its mineral resources in line with the vision.
Mr Musukwa, who represented Zambia at the conference, says the PF government is determined to address problems in the mining sector and ensure the country derives maximum benefits from its mineral resources.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Second African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for Minerals Development yesterday, Mr Musukwa said it was clear that Zambia has not derived maximum benefit from mining taxes.
“Zambians must benefit from the mineral resources, there is no excuse. The PF government is determined to bring parity in the mining industry,” Mr Musukwa said.
“That is why people voted for us. We will not kill the goose that lays the golden egg but we want to ensure people, who have sacrificed for a long time, benefit from mineral resources,” he said.
Mr Musukwa said Zambia will take advantage of the African Mining Vision (AMV) to ensure the mineral resources benefit local communities.
“The AMV is like a redraft of the PF manifesto in terms of maximising benefits from mineral resources. Zambia is desirous to obtain maximum benefits from mineral resources by ensuring that mining companies contribute significantly to infrastructure development,” he said.
“It is gratifying to note that AMV was generated as a result of many countries not benefitting from mineral resources and this is evident in the Zambian scenario.
“Each time Zambians demand to benefit from mineral resources, there is shifting of goal posts such as claim of no profit.”
The conference also agreed an Action Plan which emphasises that now is the moment when Africa can tilt decisively towards development. It’s time to turn the Africa Mining Vision into Action.

CITIZENS for a Better Environment (CBE) executive director Peter Sinkamba says African governments need to protect communities who resort to litigation against mining firms by making it mandatory for governmentts to indemnify them against costs if they lost their cases in court.
“We also need to develop quantum calculation framework for determination of the environmental and social liabilities across Africa.
The AU (African Union) needs to assist create a framework for financing of environmental and social guarantees/bonds,” said Mr Sinkamba, an environmental activist based in Zambia’s second city Kitwe, which is also the hub of the country’s Copperbelt.
He was speaking at the Second African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for Minerals Development in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa today.
Mr Sinkamba said there is need for Africa’s mining regime to address the issue of mining rights versus surface rights whereby the former supercede the latter.
“Why should we evict communities and pay them one-off compensation without preparing them adquately on how to manage the funds.
We need to devise a system whereby they are compensated on on-going basis such as giving them one percent of pre-tax profit for the life of the mine. This is sustainable income,” he said.
Mr Sinkamba also suggested the creation of specific types of funds that need to be created to deal with-mining related liabilities as follows such as funds to address environmental liabilities during operational phase (progressive rehabilitation liabilities) and funds for securing decommissioning, closure and post-closure environmental liabilities.
He also called for establishment of funds to address social liabilities during operational phase (community development funds), funds to secure social liabilities at closure and post-closure, funds to address liabilities for derelict and ownerless mines, a future generations fund.
“We need to create the office of Ombudsman at AU level as a conflict resolution mechanism in the extractive sector,” Mr Sinkamba added.
The theme for the five day conference, which ends tomorrow, is “Building a Sustainable Future for Africa’s Extractive Industry: From Vision to Action.
The rationale for the conference is to address the question why Africa which posseses massive mineral resources and has a long history of mining hasn’t galvanized development across the continent.

THE second African Union Conference of ministers
Responsible for minerals development opened yesterday with a
clarion call for the continent to ensure that it achieves
economic development from its mineral wealth.
African Union Commission (AUC) Director for Trade and
Industry Jean Noel Francois was the first to give a litany
of challenges in Africa’s mining sector.
In his opening remarks to the five day conference whose
theme is :Building a Sustainable Future for Africa’s
Extractive Industries: From Vision to Action,” Mr Francois
noted that Africa’s mineral resources are fuelling the
growth and development of many industrialized and emerging
economies, yet the continent remains poor and dependent on
donor assistance for national budget support.
“Africa consumes very little of its own mineral resources
and exports most of it as raw materials, with little or no
local value addition and benefication.
This is a key challenge for the continent if it is to
achieve socio-economic development from its resource
wealth,” Mr francois said.
“Another important challenge is to ensure that the
mineral resource wealth serves as an engine of growth and
development long after minerals have been depleted,” he
said.
Mr Francois noted that Africa was ‘the continent of the
future’ and that with appropriate measures, it will
register higher percentages of growth.
“I want to say to you today; let’s get rid of
Afro-pessimism. Do not despair. Our future is in our hands
and we have an obligation towards history,” he said.
And UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Director for
Regional Integration, Infrastructure and Trade Division,
Stephen Karingi joined the growing list expressing
frustration as to why Africa continues being poor despite
its abundant mineral wealth.
“And we are all well aware that since 2003, mineral
commodity prices have surged on account of high demand in
emerging economies like China, India and Brazil which are
going through an unprecedented phase of industrial
expansion.
Yet we are further told that Africa has not really
benefitted from these high prices due to a number of
structural weaknesses in its mining sector,” Mr Karingi
said.
He noted that fiscal frameworks in Africa’s mineral
sector are not optimized-African governments have signed
mineral development agreements that provide far more
incentives and benefits to mining companies than anyone
else.
Mr Karingi said during the recent and continuing boom,
Africa’s share of the windfall earnings has been
negligible compared to what mining companies have realized.
In 2010, net profits for the top 40 mining companies grew
by 156 percent to US$110 billion and the net asset base of
these companies now exceeds US$1 trillion, he observed.
“The high earnings in the last seven years or so prompted
countries like Australia and India to increase taxes on
windfall earnings, and yet here in Africa, we are hesitant
to do so on account that we might frighten away the goose
and have no more golden eggs,” Mr Karingi said.
He also bemoaned that mining contracts in Africa remain
mired in secrecy; communities continue to be marginalized
and they are not stakeholders in mineral exploration.
“In any case, they lack voice and information on their
rights to participate in minerals decision making.
Yet they are the most affected, and often displaced, as new
mines develop,” Mr Karingi said.
He also noted that small scale mining in Africa is
often the forgotten sector and that in quite a number of
small scale mines, the activities continue to be illegal and
under exploited.
“Yet we are aware that small scale mining is not just a
potentially lucrative economic activity but socially
supports a number of rural livelihoods.
I can not therefore sufficiently emphasise the significance
of small scale mining to uplifting rural areas where some 70
percent of our population lives, in poverty mostly,” Mr
Karingi said.

The Mushishima is a tributary of the Kafue River, which accounts for about 40 percent of Zambia’s domestic water supply but is, unfortunately, also the country’s most polluted river.

Supreme Court judge Phillip Musonda sitting as High Court judge ordered that each of the 2000 residents be paid K4 million as general damages and K1 million as punitive damages.
He also ordered that the damages should attract the central bank’s long term deposit rate from the issuance of the writ to the day of judgment and later short-term deposit rate until payment is made.
In delivering judgment, Justice Musonda who castigated KCM for its irresponsible behavior said the development will deter would-be polluters from discharging poisonous substances without diminishing their potency to cause harm to the environment, human beings and animals.
In the judgment delivered on November 10, Justice Musonda said the polluting of the water by the mining company was lack of corporate social responsibility, criminal and a tipping point for corporate recklessness.
In 2007, James Nyasulu and others sued KCM, the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ), now Zambia Environmental management Agency (ZEMA) and Chingola Municipal Council for discharging effluent from its mining operations into the stream from which they get drinking water.
ECZ, as second defendant, was sued for allegedly failing or neglecting to carry out inspection or supervise maintenance of the pipes to meet the acceptable standards while the municipal council was sued for failing to take adequate measures to mitigate and control the effects of the pollution of water by maintaining sufficient water reserves.
But Justice Musonda did not find any case against ECZ because he found no negligence on their part, adding that ECZ did the best it could by even shutting KCM operations at one point.
He said ECZ was dealing with a truant investor and it was not too late to prosecute KCM and set an example to others.
Justice Musonda said the fact that Zambia was in dire need of foreign investment to improve the well-being of its people does not mean its people should be dehumanized by ‘greed and crude capitalism’ which put profit above human life.
He said the plaintiffs had proved their case against KCM in common law and statutory law that the mining company was reckless and had no regard for human, animal and plant life because they thought they were politically correct and connected.
“The courts have a duty to protect poor communities from the powerful and politically connected.
I agree with the plaintiff’s pleadings that KCM was shielded from criminal prosecution by political connections and financial influence, which put them beyond the pale of criminal justice,” Justice Musonda said.
He said whether human beings had died or not, there was gross recklessness on the part of KCM which must bear the moral, criminal and civil liability for the appalling tragedy because the company turned chingola residents into ‘guinea pigs’ and showed no remorse.
Justice Musonda said the plaintiffs had called victims of the pollution and expert evidence to prove that there was pollution.
Daison Mulenga, one of the affected residents who testified in the matter, told the court that in November 2006, there was no water supply for 10 days in Kabundi township and Mulonga Water and Sewerage Company supplied them with water pumped from Kafue River.
Mr Mulenga said after drinking the water, he experienced stomach pains, diarrhea and chest pains and that his sight was also affected.
Another witness Siku Nkambalume said his wife went to draw water from Kafue River for cooking, bathing and drinking but the following day, he had stomach pain and that him and the children had a runny stomach.
He was later informed by a doctor from Chingola’s Kakoso clinic that the water was polluted.
The judgment has cheered many.
Lusaka lawyer Kelvin Bwalya said he was happy that judgement had been passed in favour of his clients and that it was an important and a landmark case which can be used to pursue other offenders.

Reverend Esson Simbeye of Chingola, for example, says the K10 billion KCM has been ordered to pay for polluting the Mushishima stream is inadequate, but will at least serve as a ‘wake up call’ for mining companies to stop polluting the environment with impunity.
Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) principal information and communications officer Irene Chipili is upbeat about the judgment.
“As ZEMA, we are happy with the judgment because this has shown that we carried out our work in accordance with the provisions of the law then using the Environmental Protection and Pollution Control Act (EPPCA). For that reason, we were exonerated in this case,” Mrs Chipili said.

ZEMA was until April this year operating under the EPPCA which has since been repealed and replaced with the Environmental Managment Act (EMA). One of the reasons for this amendment related to the weak provisions in the EPPCA which the EMA has now taken care of.

“In comparison with the EPPCA, the EMA provides for enhanced public participation in environmental management. It provides for an option for both ZEMA and members of the public to sue for damages following pollution and this is the provision that was used by Chingola residents,” Mrs Chipili said.
“We would like to encourage more of such vigilant actions from members of the public because environmental protection should not be a preserve of enforcement agencies alone.
Effective environmental management in this country requires the active participation of all stakeholders including the general public.”

But KCM, a subsidiary of the London-registered Vedanta, whose market capitalization is more than US$4.4billion, says it is consulting its lawyers regarding its legal options following the Lusaka High court ruling.
KCM head of public relations Joy Sata said KCM is a responsible company which has adopted global best-practices and complies with all local regulatory requirements on environment, health and safety.
Ms Sata said KCM has a zero tolerance policy on any action that will compromise the health and safety of its employees or residents.
“Over the years, KCM has taken many steps, including a multi-billion dollar investment programme to address the many issues it inherited at privatization.
Significant progress has been made to date in upgrading its assets and reducing the risk of any adverse impacts on the environment,” she said.
But all in all, it is notable that legislation and enforcement is progressively taking care of interests of ordinary citizens who have been victims of environmentally unfriendly mining activities.

But just how big is the land that will be given out to the farmers? In this visual presentation prepared by InterAksyon.com, we compared the total land area of the hacienda that will be awarded to its tillers to the country’s landmarks and popular places.

Click here to view graphic.