Sharing the proceeds of mining, 2nd Edition

It seems like a long time since I put forward A Human Approach to the "Mining Debate" where I set out a three stage framework for ensuring that local mining activity translated into better pay and working conditions for workers and improved local economies. Back then we were fighting for right to get more revenue for our natural resources and in turn transfer that to the locally affected people and their many workers who had poor wages. It also a long time since we were promised the the Environment Protection Fund to deal with local safety and other ills. It is also seems like a long time ago since Nkana Member of Parliament Mwenya Musenge joined our calls for Sharing the proceeds of mining... , where he called for government to immediately establish a mining communities development fund to benefit residents of mining areas. That call like many others before it went unanswered.

Well, the Catholic Church has not forgotten. Last week they returned to our theme by establishing the Zambia Extractive Industries Project (ZEIP) on the Copperbelt and North-Western provinces to ensure equitable benefits from natural resources. Among their aim is to ensure the new Republican Constitution brings on board the social protection for the Zambians from the investors. They have also resolved that there is need for citizens to participate in the formulation of the development agreements so that they know the contents. If thats not enough, they are demanding that the windfall tax in the mining sector be brought back and that the local authority should collect levy from mining companies for each truckload leaving the district. That last demand sounds like a less sophisticated version of what I have argued here.