Mining & Trade News

The Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) has called for collaboration among key stakeholders in the extractives sector to ensure that the country’s minerals benefit both government and local communities.

EAM made the call during a Government and Extractives Stakeholder Engagement Meeting on Mining Compliance and Governance, which took place in Lilongwe.

Vice Chairperson for EAM Davidson Chifungo said in an interview that they organized the meeting to fulfil one of their roles of making sure that there is proper collaboration in the extractive industry.

Chifunngo said: “What we have seen is that we have a lot of minerals but Malawians are not benefiting from them simply because there is no collaboration between entities in the sector.”

“There are some people who are smuggling the minerals, some Malawians are getting small scale mining licenses and later sell them to foreigners.” “In the end Malawi is not benefiting, the communities are not benefiting, that is why we called on the meeting to discuss how we can utilize the sector to ensure that there is justice for all.”

Chifungo backed government’s ban on raw mineral exports but urged the government to ensure implementation of the decision.

“The challenge that we have as a country is that we are just good at making pronouncements but very poor in terms of implementation,” he said.

Representing Malawi Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative (MWEITI) Secretariat, Leonard Mushane also blamed lack of coordination in the sector as one of the challenges impacting the industry.

Mushane said: “Coordination is the challenge between the Geological Survey Department, Mines Department, Mining and Mineral Resources Regulatory Authority (MMRA), Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) and the Ministry itself.

“Technically we are working at making sure that mining revenue is being generated and collected as required.” The meeting was organized following the Alternative Mining Indaba that Civil Society Organisations operating in the extractives sector held from November 4 to 5 under the theme ‘Power to the people; Owning Malawi’s Energy Future.’ In his presentation, Programs Coordinator for Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) Joy Chabwera asked the government to publish all mining licenses, agreements and beneficial ownership details as one way of ending secrecy in the extractive deals.

Chabwera also urged the government to enforce environmental laws saying it requires mandatory rehabilitation and community led monitoring.

He said: “The government should fast-track ASM formalization, provide technical support and finance for safe operations.”

“They should also amend policy to extend Community Development Agreement (CDA) to medium scale operations and strengthen local and traditional leader roles in licensing and monitoring.”

“Government must also promote tax justice and end provision of harmful incentives to investors that deprive communities of revenue, localize MWEITI processes and make data accessible in local languages.”

He further appealed to the government to invest in beneficiation and local processing to create jobs and retain value in the country.

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