CSOs admit failing mining victims
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has blamed cracks in the civil society organisations (CSOs) for continued suffering and human rights violations in rural communities surrounding mining sites in the country.
Monsignor Denis Chitete, head of the church’s development arm in Karonga Diocese, confronted the silent setback on Saturday when CCJP brought together activists and traditional leaders to strengthen their ties and fine-tune an ongoing transparency initiative within the country’s emerging extractive industry.
The advocacy gives government until 2018 to come up with comprehensive strategy requiring investors to pay adequate compensation and support resettlement of people displaced by mining.
But the encounter was a rude awakening as the campaigners for responsible mining took turns in confessing to how they have let down the people due to selfish interests, fragmented efforts and duplication of their interventions.
Confronting the silent setback, Chitete said the activists should start work together and speak with one voice when empowering affected communities how to challenge and overcome unjust situations emanating from the extractive industry.
Said Chitete: “We need to come up with one strategy to avoid confusing the people and eroding the confidence people they have in us. If hunters do not come up with a shared strategy, chances are that they will not kill the animal they want or they end up shooting each other.”
Government and mining firms, including Paladin Africa which extracts uranium at Kayelekera in the north western hills of Karonga, often blame the non-State actors’ campaign against exploitative practices in the extractive sector as aggressive, repetitive and lacking evidence to back their sensational pronouncements.
Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) board chairperson Kossam Munthali, whose organisation is a nationwide umbrella of 33 groups, weighed in on the graver inefficiencies and other ruinous impact of fragile ties in the civil society. n
What else beggars can share? It is the strategy of how to convince the donor community how they remain at their doorposts begging. Do you think this gathering of so called CSOs will serve the common good of the no-names? As indicated in the article they are not only selfish but also greedy. Big thieves to use che Jangála words.