Delegates from across Sierra Leone numbering 40 attended the “Sierra Leone Country Mining Vision (CMV) Advocacy and Capacity Building Workshop”, which was held at the Barmoi Hotel, Aberdeen, Freetown, from November 21-23, 2016.
The workshop was jointly hosted by the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A), Oxfam and the government of Sierra Leone, and with participation of different stakeholders (see list of participants and institutions).
The keynote address was delivered by Hon. Abdul Ignosi Koroma, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
In February 2009, the Heads of State and Government on the African continent adopted the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) to serve as Africa’s roadmap for maximising the development outcomes of mineral resource exploitation in African countries. The Vision, supported by its Action Plan for implementation, is motivated by a disconcerting observation that while African countries have huge endowments of mineral resources, they rank among the poorest in the world. Poor mineral governance has ripple effects and often can also be a clear reflection of the overall weakness in governance within a country. As a result and given the finite nature of these mineral resources, the overall goal of the AMV is to promote a sustainable and well-governed mining sector that effectively garners and deploys resource rents and that is safe, healthy, gender and ethnically inclusive, environmentally friendly, socially responsible and appreciated by mine-affected communities. To this end the AMV seeks to enhance transparency, equity and optimal development of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development in Africa.
To this end, it is crucial to ensure that the Sierra Leone Minerals Policy is rooted broadly in the population and with a strong emphasis on the implementation that will enhance benefits for all citizens and mitigate potential adverse impacts on local communities in mining districts.
The recommendations emerged from the deliberations of the CSOs, government representatives and parlamentarians can be found here.
Pictures ©Kwesi Obeng – Tax Justice Network Africa
