Mp’s demand Paladin MOU by Zainah Liwanda, 07 March 2007 - 05:56:43
Opposition parliamentarians on Tuesday demanded a copy of the agreement government signed with Paladin (Africa) Limited regarding the Kayelekera uranium mining project in Karonga, arguing failure to do so will appear as if government has something to hide. But government put its foot down, saying some details of the agreement are classified. Machinga North East MP Atupele Muluzi was the first to make the demand and won the support of several opposition MPs. Muluzi said it was important for Parliament, as a representative of the people who will be affected by the project, to have a copy of the agreement. The MPs were reacting to Mines, Energy and Natural Resources minister Henry Chimunthu Banda’s statement to the House on the uranium project. Chimunthu Banda said government secured, among other things, secured 15 percent of the project’s shares and assured the legislators that the uranium will not be used for nuclear production. According to the minister, a primary school and hospital will also be constructed to cater for people within the project’s vicinity. Chimunthu Banda also said the project is expected to increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product—the total value of goods and services produced in a country annually—by more than 10 percent. He said the project will also act as catalyst for other mining projects such as limestone and generally increase the profile of the country’s mining industry. He also said one place has been reserved for a Malawian on the project’s four-member board. “An estimated 800 people are expected to be employed during the construction phase. During the operational phase, starting in mid 2008, there will be approximately 280 people directly employed but generally the benefit is that the mining project is estimated to indirectly support more than 1,000 additional jobs,” said Chimunthu Banda. Muluzi also asked Chimunthu Banda what mechanisms have been put in place for those who will be displaced and how the issue of prostitution and HIV and Aids will be controlled, considering that many people will flock to the mines. Commenting on the request for the agreement, Chimunthu Banda said ministers, with Cabinet approval, have powers to engage private investors on behalf of the people and are not supposed to make public such agreements. Women and Child Development minister Kate Kainja said by demanding the agreement, Parliament was hijacking powers of the Executive. Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Bazuka Mhango said though the Constitution guarantees access to information, procedures have to be followed, not what the opposition MPs were doing. But the explanation did not satisfy several MPs, including leader of opposition and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president John Tembo. “The explanations that are coming now are raising more suspicion in the minds of people. The Minister of Energy and Mining has talked about local participation, I am not going to ask him [more about this]. I am going to ask the Minister of Finance because he has a tendency to be honest,” said Tembo, attracting cheers from the opposition side. Addressing Gondwe, Tembo asked whether the Malawian on the project’s board is a politician. But Gondwe said a decision has not yet been made about who will represent the country on the board. Gondwe said as someone who served in government, Tembo should know that some agreements have to be between two parties, explaining that flouting them would create a bad precedent. But the MCP boss said the biggest project the MCP government carried out was the one hydro-electric power. He argued that the former president, the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda, talked about the project openly. Tembo also said in the Sugar Corporation of Malawi (now Illovo Sugar) sugar deal, there was nothing government hid, arguing even the biggest shareholder was known. But Gondwe said the current administration was not hiding anything either since the major shareholder, Paladin, is known. But he stressed that certain details of the agreement have to be kept secret.
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