Parliament to discuss draft minerals act

Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change Werani Chilenga has disclosed that Parliament is scheduled to discuss and review the draft Mines and Minerals Act during the first week of March, 2015.

Speaking to Business News in Lilongwe, the legislator also hinted that during the current sitting of Parliament, his committee will table a report that will unmask the current state of mismanagement of natural resources in the country.

“We have already requested government to include all stakeholders in the commission responsible for approving licenses as part of the Act as opposed to the current situation where all powers are vested in the Executive,” said Chilenga.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a dissemination workshop of policy positions on mining organised by the Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) in collaboration with the Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (CEPA)under the Tilitonse funded ‘Strengthening Mining Governance in Malawi’ project.

Currently, government, through the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, is reviewing the Mines and Minerals Act of 1981.

Experts have condemned the legislation as archaic as it does not respond to the emerging issues in the country’s infant mining sector—which is contributing K10 to every K100 of the country’s total wealth as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Other pieces of legislation that are said to be outdated but are key to governing the extractive sector include Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act of 1983 and the Explosive Act of 1968.

Apart from lack of updated legislative framework for mining industry, sector commentators also cite capacity constraints to deal with transfer pricing and mining taxation, limited mining contract negotiation skills, mineral revenue accountability and audit as some key challenges facing the country’s mining sector.

Chilenga said his committee has also asked government to withdraw the licenses it issued for mineral exploration on top of Mulanje Mountain.

He also bemoaned poor funding for the Department of Meteorological and Climate Change which it said gets 21 percent of the amount approved by Parliament.

“Let me request honourable Members of Parliament to critically look at the budget before approving it so that it best serves the interest of all Malawians,” he added.