Mining & Trade News

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working in the extractive sector have reported to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the challenges that are dogging Malawi’s mining sector which, according to them, include lack of transparency and accountability; poor implementation of policies; lack of community consultations on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects, community’s lack of access to vital reports and information and; corrupt practices.

 The CSOs presented these challenges to the IMF team at a meeting in Lilongwe. The IMF was in the country to meet various stakeholders including the CSOs, the Central Bank, the Judiciary and various government agencies to diagnose issues of governance, mining and land sectors.

The IMF team called on the meeting with the CSOs, and the agenda included general rule of law issues; contract enforcement; property rights; and functioning of the judiciary.

Responding to IMF questions on challenges the sector is experiencing, Board Chairperson for Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC) Robert Mkwezalamba alleged that Government is not committed in implementation of some policies including inspection of the mines.

Mkwezalamba cited that whenever an issue is reported to the Ministry of Mining or District inspection team, they inform the mining company of their plans to inspect the mine, which gives room to corruption.

 “The Ministry seems to be serious with a mining company when the license expires but when in operation not much is done in terms of inspection.”

On CSR, Mkwezalamba said there is need to ensure that the local communities are given an opportunity to decide on their needs despite it being not compulsory to the company.

He said: “The contractual agreements currently being signed by the Government and multinational companies should benefit the people of Malawi.”

“CSR is an issue considering that it is 100% determined by the companies and the communities have no say.”

“They need to look at the power of the community because at the end of the mining project someone benefits while someone does not despite being impacted.”

On transparency and accountability issues, the CSOs centered on the licensing and signing of mining development agreements whereby they lamented that it remains a challenge to know how the two are awarded.

Coordinator for Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) Kennedy Rashid told the team that though results of both the World Bank funded Airborne Geophysical Survey dubbed Kauniuni and Geological Mapping and Mineral Assessment Project (GEMMAP) were launched to the public, the problem remains accessibility of the two.

Rashid said: “The Kauniuni and GEMMAP reports are out but for you to access them you need to buy, and from there you need also to hire a geologist to interpret the technical reports for you.”

“Another challenge with the mining sector is that we have a new that has established the Mining Regulatory Authority law but no regulations hence we are still using the old one.”

 “Of course, when you ask the Ministry of Mining, they tell you they have developed the regulations and are with the Ministry of Justice, the question is how do you develop regulations while you have not funded the Authority.”

The meeting attracted CSOs including; HRCC, the Council for Non-Governmental Organisations in Malawi, NRJN, Sustainable Rural Community Development, Africa Windmill Project, Youth Initiative, Bwezi la Ana Foundation, Civil Rights Advocacy Centre, National Advocacy Platform, CARE Malawi, Tilitonse Foundation, Save the Children, Citizen Alliance, Centre for Mindset Change and Economists Association of Malawi. 

The IMF team was headed by Deputy Division Chief of Fiscal Operations in the Fiscal Affairs Department Kenji Moriyama.

The mission to Malawi through diagnostic analysis is directly linked to the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of the IMF.

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