The gathering mining storm

Governed by an obsolete 1981 mining law and worsened by absence of a legislation on accessing public information, the raging battle of distrust between communities and mining investors over sharing spoils could get even nastier. Warns JAMES CHAVULA.

They closed the mine again.

Residents of Mpata in Karonga, who once blocked the road to Nkhayuti Coal Mine in 2013, staged another shutdown in October this year.

“It’s been years of broken promises,” Group Village Head (GVH) Mwenenguwe says.

The villagers want the investors behind the mine to fully honour a community development agreement that entitles the locals to a borehole, teacher’s house and a school block.

It has been three years since the signing of the pact facilitated by Karonga district council following the protests.

However, Malawians surrounding Nkhayuti Coal Mine are still not drawing safe water.

They rue seeing the investors draw truckloads of coal leaving behind waste material contaminating the water system.

“They are getting richer while we cannot afford a drop of safe water,” Mwenenguwe laments.

Such is the wave of frustration among the villagers who grew up relying on Towo stream before they knew the hills in the vicinity had coal deposits.

They keep threatening to shut down the mine, but the ultimatums have not brought a single borehole envisaged to wean them from the stream being contaminated by coal waste.

Pollution of river is a sticky issue in communities near the mines of Karonga.

“We feel cheated. They just wanted to calm us down,” community action group leader Chrispine Mtambo says.

His group is petitioning hard for locals’ rights and participation in mining issues.

According to Mtambo, the community development agreement has marked no end to destruction of the environment.

Meanwhile, the promised borehole is nowhere in sight.

Also nonexistent is the classroom block earmarked for Towo Primary School.

Only construction of the teacher’s house has begun.

However, the building has stalled at window level due to uneasy ties with the community as well as a harsh business climate, Nkhayuti mine director Dave Nyirenda said.

“If people say they are not benefitting, what do they mean? We are building a teacher’s house. They may wish to know that coal is cheap, not profitable,” he said in an interview.

He indicated buyers are shunning local coal in preference for truckloads from Mozambique.

“The last time I sold coal was in April and government is doing nothing to protect local investors,” Nyirenda decried.

He reckoned it has been two months since nearly 40 workers at the mine got their pay.

“When I get money, I ask myself whether to invest in the teacher’s house or salaries,” he said.

He asked the villagers to be patient, saying the house mirrors Nkhayuti’s commitment to social responsibility though “we are not mining gold or uranium”.

The locals refuse to peg their share to the profitability of mines.

Church and Society of the Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central African Presbyterian (CCAP)—with funding from the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (Osisa)—is working with communities neighbouring Mpata and Mchenga coal mines to promote transparency, accountability, responsiveness and inclusiveness in the extractive sector.

According to Church and Society project manager Paul Mvula, the declining profit margins constitute a widespread excuse for mining companies in Karonga.

“The investors say they don’t make profits, but do the people have access to such information?” he asks.

No! That is Mwenenguwe’s response.

In the largest mining district, traditional leaders advocate against the existing law which gives investors the temerity to bypass local citizens.

Made at the height of dictatorship in 1981, the law makes the companies accountable to the Minister responsible for mines with no regard for locals exposed to the side-effects of increased activity resulting from mining.

The draft amendment is still waiting to go to Parliament despite earlier indications by government that it would be presented to the lawmakers in April this year.

Amid the wait, the locals want a voice on mining activities, including corporate social responsibility.

But Mvula reckons the fulfillment of the commitments cannot wait for profits.

“The community development agreement makes it a matter of obligation,” the Church and Society official says.

Secrecy is a major blight in the country’s extractive industry.

The activist says passing the draft access to information bill, which has been gathering dust since 2003, would help safeguard Malawians’ interest.

“We all want the amendment of the Mines and Minerals Act to be passed, but it will only work when the Access to Information Act becomes law,” Mvula warns.

Cabinet ministers recently came under fire for tossing the bill, which seeks to give citizens the right to demand and access vital information for their use, to its legal affairs committee to iron out undisclosed inconsistencies.

Activists and the media want government to finally take the proposed law to Parliament or disclose the hidden inconsistencies.

Opening up will also empower Malawians in mining hotspots to access information on issues tarnishing the extractive sector, Mvula says.

“As the country is edging closer to adopting the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), we need to have access to information laws to become compliant with the global treaty,” he explained.

Among other things, the transparency initiative requires both government and investors to make public their earnings from extractive activities.

“There is need for free flow of information to avoid suspicion and misunderstanding,” says Mwenenguwe.n