North-western province council of elders has called for the decentralization of investment agreements if local communities are to benefit from their natural resources.
Speaking during the copper for development forum organized by the Civil Society for Poverty Reduction in Solwezi, Council of Elders Secretary , Kenneth Kapata said that centrally made agreements do not adequately take into account the needs of local communities.
He observed that most agreements are signed in Lusaka by individuals who do not understand the challenges in the host communities.
Mr Kapata advocated for a given time frame for agreements to allow people to study the agreements in case of any gaps.
The Council of Elders have since advised that agreements should start with the host communities where the resources will be mined so as to cater for the needs of a community.
“For instance, Kasenseli, first it should start with Mwinilunga, those who want to invest should go to Mwinilunga first and talk to the people so that they see how they are going to develop that particular land,” Mr Kapata said.
“So even with these three giant mines we have in the province, I am sure we are blaming the central government, that they did not do well when they were signing the investment agreements,” Mr Kapata said.
And Civil Society for Poverty Reduction Vice Chairperson, Bwalya Kampamba said the solution to most challenges in mining communities being faced today lies in bringing back the mineral revenue sharing mechanism.
“The mineral revenue sharing mechanism, the reason why we are saying it should come back is it has all these things we are talking about, consultation, consent and how the resources should trickle down up to the last person,” Mr Kampamba said.
He called on ordinary citizens to stand up and scrutinize ward development committees because development starts on that level.
Meanwhile, Solwezi Deputy Mayor, Alex Pupe said the nation is in an era where duty bearers are constantly challenged to engage stakeholders in the mining sector to support communities in various projects which can benefit the most vulnerable.
“We support and place an emphasis on the need to open public space for civic participation such as this mining forum”, Mr Pupe said.
Sir, just a reminder that there’s no mineral revenue because mines have been granted a tax holiday, just utilize CDF as Bally fixes it
Spot on, by the Elders Secretary! Centrally made agreements that are reached without consultation with local communities, will surely, not adequately meet needs on the ground. The practice of depriving locals of self determination is obsolete & set in colonial thinking, where decision making was taken away from our Chiefs/all Africans in fact. But it doesn’t have to continue. Zambians are their own masters now. The land and all it holds, belongs to Zambians. Stop perpetuating colonization; by discarding laws that were enacted to deprive Africans.
#plant a tree please.