LAWI JOEL, 8th December 2009

MINERALS in the belly of our land are abundant and various. It is a pride to say that one of those minerals -- Tanzanite, owing to its uniqueness, has been given a name that carries for most part, the country’s name.

Minerals earn the country a significant amount of foreign exchange and an interesting part of the national infighting and now after 48 years of independence, so much hollering shows what minerals mean to the nation and its people.

A national report says: “Mining sector contributes about 2.3 per cent of the GDP, which is projected to account for 10 per cent in 2025 as stated in the Development Vision 2025.” The report adds:

“Further it has great potentials for employment opportunities and spearheading for both the forward and backward linkage of the Tanzania’s economy.”

Such a report illustrates the significance of minerals to the national’s economy. In the lay man’s language, it shows what mineral mean to the people.

Proceeds of the minerals’ sales help build schools, medical facilities and roads as much as it pays for the salaries of workers. No wonder there will be hue and cry when the people think they are getting a raw deal in the contract to mine their land’s treasure.

Tanzania has a great potential particularly for gold, base metals, diamonds, ferrous minerals and a wide variety of gemstones, some of, which are unique such as tanzanite.

Coal, uranium, and various industrial minerals such as soda, kaolin, tin, gypsum, phosphate and dimension stones are available in attractive economic rates. There, however, has been a snag in the development of the sector.

More often than not brawls have erupted between artisanal miners and foreign investors in the sector. The local communities have not been without a complaint against the mines owners.

A mineral whose mining has sparked off conflicts is gold. Gold is found in greenstone belts located in the east and the south of Lake Victoria, and rock formation in southern and south-western of the country.

At the centre of many complaints is environmental degradation and its consequential harm to the people in the area, a result that has not made the people’s lives golden. Illustrative of such discords is the recent skirmish of the people of Tigithe River.

The nature of the disputes also reflect the need of education to the people who at times have interfered with the operations of the investors in the area. These conflicts have exposed negative foreigners’ negative sentiments they have in many African countries been accused of.

One case that proved the sentiments was an incident in Mererani in which the owner of a tunnel shot a transgressor in the back with a shot gun.

A structure constructed at the base of the pool where poisonous liquid kept to prevent it from sipping into the ground and reaching the groundwater in the open, was interfered with.

The result was disastrous. Minerals have also been a bone of contention between the government and its people. What the investors pay back into the government as a royalty is what many people have called ‘peanut’.

The peanut has allegedly been a product of corruption in the powers that be. Often accused of the corruption are some big potato in the government, who allegedly have turned a deaf ear to the people’s grievances or turned a blind eye to the investors' evils reportedly committed and drew the people’s anger.

This chaos and controversy could be avoided if the sector were well organized. Its good survey would avert the conflicts as the abundant wealth in the belly of the land is mined.

If minerals’ direct contribution to the Treasury has been minimal, the local communities have not hosted the investors for nothing handed.

Part of the minerals’ proceeds has built schools, hospitals, roads and communication centres. Where there has been water scarcity, wells have been dug. And where there previously was no power, the local people have had power line drawn to their area.

Bulyahulu in Geita Mines and Mara mines of Barrick Gold, are a clear example of such cases. In those two places houses have been built for employed-in-the-mine members of the local community for soft loans.

Teachers particularly, as civil servants, have benefited directly as some of them have been sent for further training and better housing provided for them.

Tanzania’s treasure underground may therefore be a cause for strife and strikes, but it is where development lies if the government knows how to make its people cooperate with honest investors.

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Source: http://www.dailynews.co.tz