Communique of the 5th Tanzania Extractive Industries Conference”

We, HakiRasilimali, a platform of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working on strategic issues around minerals, oil and gas extraction in Tanzania, having shared experiences on the problems facing Tanzania and other African countries at the 5^th Tanzania Extractive Industries Conference held in Dodoma on the 2^nd and 3^rd of November, 2017:

1. Affirm that resources of the country are primarily for the benefit of the people of Tanzania in accordance with the constitution. Hence citizens should be the ultimate holders of their natural resources and hence should be actively involved in the entire extractive value chain from the decision to extract to the decision on how the revenues will be spent. And the government of Tanzania shall therefore remain the custodian acting on behalf of the people.
2. Recognize that parliamentary oversight committees are crucial to ensuring independent scrutiny and providing oversight on how the executive manages natural resource wealth in Tanzania. Thus, the Parliament should be progressively empowered through provision of baseline knowledge on extractive issues to scrutinize the management of mining, oil and natural gas resources. Moreover, we acknowledge that enhancing the independence of parliamentary committees requires legislative improvements and there is a need to revamp the provisions of the legislation to provide legislative authority to ratify all agreements between governments and companies. On the other hand, the Parliament in collaboration with the government, is responsible for ensuring that law enforcement does not limit or restrict the full functioning of other institutions such as the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA). Existing gaps within the law has opened space for extractive companies to avoid paying taxes