Minister for Constitution and
Legal Affairs, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi yesterday set the ball rolling by giving
a tough presentation on three bills that are to be discussed in the House
starting Monday.
The bills are expected to put the
mining sector’s house in order after the dust from the recent revelation, by
two special committees formed by President John Magufuli, of massive thievery
and deception perpetrated by mining firms as a result of faulty mining contracts
and laws, is still to settle.
Prof Kabudi’s presentation sets a
platform for the MPs to go through the bills that were made available for
discussion by committees and all legislators since Thursday. He told
legislators that whatever is set to be discussed need to be done in patriotism
and safeguarding national interest and ‘wananchi’s’ welfare at large.
“We are all here to protect this
country’s natural resources and make sure the national cake is shared by all.
Natural resources belong to all Tanzanians and we have the responsibility to
protect them, they belong to us and not anybody else,” said Prof Kabudi.
The Minister said the Written Law
(miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2017 propose amendments in six laws with the
aim to strengthen the control, responsibility and expand revenue collection in
the mining and oil sectors.
He said the amendments aim at
bringing the ratio between the laws that are being amended and the current laws
in use. The changes also aim at expanding revenue collection in the mining and
insurance sectors.
According to Prof Kabudi, some of
the changes in the documents include omitting some of the sections and legal
words in the current documents and rewrite them.
The laws that are lined up for
amendment include the Mining Act, Cap.123, the Petroleum Act, Cap.392, the
Income Tax Act, Cap 332, the Value Added Tax, Cap 148 and the Administration
Act, Cap 438.
Prof Kabudi who was analysing the
documents along with his team of experts told MPs that the proposed amendments
aim at enabling ‘wananchi’ to own natural resources such as minerals, oil and
gas.
He said the public will own the
said natural resources through the President of the United Republic Tanzania.
He said in the current law investors own natural resources. He said the bill
also recognises the government lien on mineral concentrates.
Also section 100 of the bill
proposes that the government will give directives on where to preserve mineral
concentrates within the mining sites. The section also proposes that mineral
concentrates will not be exported instead it will be sold to whoever will be
ready to smelt them and will be subjected to tax.
All mining areas will be under
government watch. Section 5A allows the government to provide security in all
mining sites, enable it to inspect mining sites, to monitor and keep records
of obtained minerals from various mining sites in the country.
According to Prof Kabudi, the
bills contain many amendments that altogether aim at protecting the country’s
natural resources and make sure they benefit all people. He said the bills have
been prepared in accordance with the principles, guidelines and requirement of
the constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977.
He added that the bills also have
been prepared to meet requirements and are in line with international laws. He
asked MPs to discuss the bills and allow his ministry to read them for the
second and third time in the House and thus pass them to become laws.
"Whatever we are doing here
is for this country, these minerals belong to us and the coming generation. We
have the responsibility to protect natural resources for the coming
generation,” said Prof Kabudi.
On the second bill ‘the Natural
Wealth and Contracts (Review and Renegotiation of Unconscionable terms) Act,
2017, Prof Kabudi said the bill proposes all contracts related to the natural
re sources to be displayed before the public so that ‘wananchi’ can read them
and suggest for any changes.
He said the bill aims at
fulfilling sections 8,9 and 27 of the constitution of the United Republic of
Tanzania, 1977 as amended in 1985. He said the bill suggests that the
Parliament must be able to get copies of all contracts on natural resources to
discuss and advise the government on various matters for the national interest.
Article source Daily News TZ
Putting it into perspective
Legislation & policy: mineral
ownership
Mineral ownership in the UK
In the UK ‘minerals’ are defined in
Town and Country Planning legislation as:
‘all substances in or under land of a
kind ordinarily worked for removal by underground or surface working, except
that it does not include peat cut for purposes other than for sale.’
With the exception of oil, gas, coal,
gold and silver, the state does not own mineral rights in the UK. Generally
minerals are held in private ownership, and information on mineral rights,
where available, is held by the Land Registry together with details of land
surface ownership.
Oil and gas
The UK Continental Shelf (UKCS)
comprises those areas of the seabed and beneath the seabed, beyond territorial
waters (12 mile limit), over which the UK exercises sovereign rights of
exploration and exploitation of mineral resources (excluding hydrocarbons).
Ownership of oil and gas within the
land area of Great Britain was vested in the Crown by the Petroleum
(Production) Act 1934. The Continental Shelf Act 1964 applied the provisions of
the 1934 Act to the UKCS outside territorial waters.
For landward exploration a licence is
required, which grants exclusive rights to exploit for and develop oil and gas
onshore within Great Britain. The rights granted by landward licences do not
include any rights of access, and the licensees must also obtain any consent under
current legislation, including planning permissions. The Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills grants licences to explore for and exploit all
oil and gas resources. Licensees wishing to enter or drill through coal seams
for coalbed methane and coal mine gas must also seek the permission of the Coal
Authority.
Extracts from: MineralsUK