Issues at Large 10-19-2009

Waiting For Another Mining Policy

In Sierra Leone, every new minister of Mineral Resources (mines) always comes with his own version of a new mining policy which is proclaimed as the best, and this has continued to the present as Alhaji Alpha Kanu is announcing the final solution to the extraction of the country’s mineral resources.

While governments past and present have their mining policies, the artisanal miners have been the most affected with each policy either good or bad impacting negatively on their livelihood.

“The Small Scale and Artisanal Mining Sector on which the livelihood of over a half million of our people depends generate not only revenue for government but also an appreciable amount of economic activity in the country. This has however been plagued by both the smuggling of our diamonds and gold and by the continuous changes in the rules and regulations governing the conditions under which miners, dealers and exporters operated.” This is the preamble to the details of policy measures relating to small scale and artisanal mining and marketing of precious minerals of 2006.

Now that diamonds are growing scarce in the field, coupled with the global crunch affecting its sale and marketing generally, matters do not look rosy for the miner out there in the swamp.

But there is still no hope under the present government for the small scale and artisanal miner. Promises of the Peace Diamond Alliance initiative, which would have ensured support for the small scale miner are non-existent as the past government misused the funds and eventually politicized the PDA, taking the whole outfit to Kenema, while abandoning Kono District where the project was meant to serve. Government had claimed an intention to reactivate an assistance scheme whereby artisanal miners can be assisted with a view to restoring their rights, today this promise is far from being fulfilled.

Also, it had been stated in the mining policy of the past government that each exporter shall be required to employ and to train at least one Sierra Leonean as Valuator to the satisfaction of the Government Gold and Diamond Office. Up to date there has not been a single Sierra Leonean who has benefitted from this training.

Tourists can buy diamonds too!

Tourists visiting Sierra Leone can buy diamonds and gold too and they do not need to smuggle it out of the country or fear any form of prosecution as it is within the law!

Before engaging in the transaction, tourists who wish to buy diamonds or gold as souvenirs can get permission from the Mines Ministry through the Government Gold and Diamond Office.

Tourists are allowed to buy and export a maximum of US$1,000 worth of diamonds and US$500,00 worth of gold.

A levy of 3% shall be paid in addition to the 3% export duty for any goods valued by the Government Gold and Diamond Office for export.

These are very encouraging news for potential tourists and should serve as an enticement for numerous tourists who might very well treasure a visit that involves acquiring precious minerals like diamonds or gold.

The problem is that both the tourism ministry and the mines ministry have done nothing to sell this aspect of Sierra Leone to the world.

Bureaucrat stagnation as a result of low level civil servants demanding their cut as well as the senior police officer and the taxman all dampened the will of any tourists thinking of buying diamonds or gold through the formal procedure. They will rather do it through the ‘normal’ way which is to smuggle it with the consent of a few officers.

This is one area in which President Ernest Bai Koroma might well start to reexamine seriously. Life is not just about the Marampa Mines or African Minerals. The present Mineral resources Minister should try to cover all areas and not just Port Loko and Lunsar.

No Hope for Millennium Goals

In Africa, while opposition members are having a field day in using the global economic crisis to lambast the ruling governments in all parts of the continent where democracy is practiced, a more serious menace threatens.

Admiral Dennis Blair, the United States’Director of National Intelligence in a presentation to Senate Intelligence Committee said the top threat to national security in the near term was not Al-Qaeda or a nuclear Iran, but the global economic crisis.

The fear has also been expressed that the current economic downturn would destroy confidence in national governments, creating a vicious cycle that would decrease global prosperity and increase global insecurity. This was reechoed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who said that the economic situation “will upend governments (and) unfortunately breed instability.”

Africa is the continent that will bear the brunt of this crunch and the pains are not yet started, notwithstanding the brief pangs. IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Khan in an interview with a French newspaper predicted that “2009 will be a very bad year.” This is a far cry from the promises made in November 2008, when the IMF positively predicted growth of 2.2%. In January 2009, it slashed its prediction to 0.5%. Now the IMB man is talking of a gloomier figure close to zero!

The World Bank has expressed concern that the crisis will sink the chance of developing countries achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals linked with poverty reduction. Child mortality rate will rise, while the economic downturn worsens, and it is believed almost 50 million more people will be living on less than $1.25 per day.

The poor are expected to be especially vulnerable to the crisis because developing countries will not be able to finance the job creation projects, infrastructure improvements, and safety net programs necessary to blunt the effects of poverty. This was expressed by World Bank President  Robert Zoellick, whose fear is for underdeveloped countries expressing military coups and other breakdown of state power.

Leaders in developing countries have started expressing fear for their seats with the economic crunch still rising. African leaders have always maintained there is a need of keeping aid flowing and on track to pacify the hunger of any potential coup maker who might use the clarion call of opposition members as justification to jump inot the political show. That is why former African Union Chairman Tanzanian President Jakaya Kitweke in a statement urged donors to maintain their aid commitment despite financial instability. 

Hon. Qaddafi Still Controversial

Hon. Muammar Qaddafi, Member of Parliament in the Legislature of Sierra Leone and president of the  Libyan Jamahiriya was elected chairman of the African Union, creating what can only be described as a semblance of Arab disorder in an orderly organization of African gathering.

 President Hon. Muammar Qaddafi as leader of the African Union has started showing his true colours. He has thrown his weight behind the instant creation of United States of Africa., which will join the 53 odd nations of Africa into a political federation, and a parliament.

As the colourful and controversial Arab leader continues to make strides in his propagation of a United States of Africa, concerns over his appointment continues to rise.

In the first place, Qaddafi seized power in 1969 in a coup and has since refused to conduct any election resembling a democratic process. He has also been accused of sponsoring rebels in various countries, including Sierra Leone where he is now a Member of Parliament.

In 2003 Qaddafi accepted responsibility for the bombing of a Pan Am Flight which resulted in the death of 270 people. That same year, Qaddafi also renounced terrorism and abandoned his much publicized nuclear arms program. This was to result in sanctions being lifted in the same year, and his acceptance among the civilized national leaders of the world.

However, as age continues to have an impact on the Libyan revolutionary, he has again started manifesting tricks of old.

Qaddafi has recently decided that he is going to dismantle his government and nationalize oil asserts in the country after foreign investors pumped in billions of dollars, and his move has been cause for concern among western powers, led by the Obama administration.

“Qaddafi’s recent call to dismantle the Government and nationalize foreign oil assets in the country have combined to make the global community jittery about the aging colonel’s mental stability,” a US State Department spokesman said, adding:  “Washington would continue to work with the African Union, we will just have to see how it goes.”

Meanwhile Qaddafi is still a Member of  our Parliament. One wonders what will happen if he decides to be the majority leader, or even Speaker.

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