Plan to amend two natural resource laws hit snag
Dar es Salaam/Dodoma. The Parliament’s Governance, Constitution and Legal Affairs Committee has suspended discussion on the amendment of two natural resource-related laws as it seeks government clarifications.
The Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill number two of 2023, tabled in Parliament in June, proposed the amendment of five laws, including the two natural resource acts.
The Natural Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty) Act of 2017 and the Natural Wealth and Resources (Review and Re-negotiation of Unconscionable Terms) Act of 2017 are being amended to block their application in agreements related to transportation of natural resources that are not exploited in Tanzania.
The amendment also proposes to abolish the application of the two laws in agreements that provide for development, operations, or arrangements for the development of natural wealth and resources with a view to improving the performance of sea, dry, and lake ports in Tanzania, and such agreements have been approved by the cabinet.
The Parliament committee was hearing public views but said the two laws would have to wait for clarifications from the government.
The committee chairperson, Mr Joseph Mhagama, said they suspended public hearings on the two laws until the government clarified them.
“I told the stakeholders that the committee was not in a position to receive comments on the two laws because we have asked for clarification on some of the arguments in the laws,” said Mr Mhagama.
He said the committee was doing its work on behalf of Parliament, and after completing it, information was sent to Parliament for decisions.
On August 16 this year, the committee called stakeholders to give their views on the bill that was presented for the first time in parliament on June 28, 2023.
He said they had already received public views on the amendment of three out of five laws, but they were not in a position to continue with the other two.
He noted that the committee sought the government’s explanation so that they could satisfy themselves during the analysis of the amendments and the content of the changes in the two laws.
According to him, seeking clarification was a common thing in the work of the committee, and the opinions of stakeholders were part of the analysis of the bills presented in parliament.
Concerning the bill, the Attorney General, Dr Eliezer Feleshi, said the laws were amended to ensure implementation of those laws does not affect the performance of ports, land ports, and ports in the country’s lakes.
“The purpose of this amendment is to enable ports in the United Republic to reach international operational standards and to attract more countries and large cargo loads to use our local ports,” says part of Dr Feleshi’s statement.
The two laws were cited in a recent case in which four people filed a case against the ratification of the Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) between Tanzania and the UAE on the development and operation of ports and other economic infrastructure.
Section 11 of the Natural Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty) Act prohibits proceedings related to the natural wealth and resources from being taken to any foreign court or tribunal.
It also requires that disputes arising from the extraction, exploitation, acquisition, and use of natural wealth and resources be adjudicated by judicial bodies or other organs established in Tanzania and in accordance with local laws.
According to the Tanganyika Law Society, IGA has provisions that allow arbitration that necessitate referral to the Secretary General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration seated in the Hague.
