Legal experts have advised the government to set guidelines for the mining investors to align Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds with priorities of the local communities to help in reducing poverty and creating more job opportunities.
Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) Think-Tank Chairman, Professor Issa Shivji
The Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) Think-Tank Chairman, Prof Issa Shivji said at a training workshop for journalists at Kilwa Masoko in Lindi Region last week that in most cases the CSR funds were meager and not aligned with priorities of the local communities as they were mainly for business motives.
“The amount of funds set for CSR by mining investors are unrealistic and instead they area guided by profit maximization philosophy that has nothing to do with the liberation of the citizens surrounding their investments from abject poverty,” he said at the workshop organized by the Media Council of Tanzania.
It is estimated that a total of 50 million US dollars (over 80bn/-) have been invested by mining firms in Tanzania in CSR in infrastructure development between 1997 and 2012. “But the amount set aside and the services provided are still questionable,” Prof Shivji said.
The Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT) Executive Director, Dr Rugemeleza Nshala said the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the country had increased considerably but the extent to which it is contributing to economic transformation, in particular poverty reduction was doubtful.
“One expects that the investments would have contributed substantially in transforming the Tanzanian economy in general and in reducing poverty in particular. But the situation on the ground shows that many people were still in abject poverty,” he noted.
More than 500 million US dollars (about 800bn/-) have been invested in the mining sector by the year 2010 but generated only 40,000 jobs with the sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) standing at around 3.3 per cent, shows a state of the economy report 2010.
The mining sector recorded an impressive growth rate of 7.8 per cent in 2012, up from just 2.2 per cent in 2011, helped by increased investments in the capital-intensive industry. Similarly, National Development Vision estimates that the mining contribution to GDP will reach 10 per cent by 2025.
Source Tanzania Daily News
