Ministry of Mines has announced it is working on a new bill that will force mining companies to become more transparent.
According to Tolosa Shagi, Minister of Mines, the Ministry is working on a draft proclamation and table it to the House of Peoples’ Representatives for it to have a binding effect. Mining companies will only join the sector if they abide the new law.
The Ministry has recently become a candidate for Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global coalition of governments, companies and civil society organizations. Members of the Initiative work together to improve openness as well as accountability in management of revenues that are earned from natural resources.
According to the Ministry there is a plan to amend the mining proclamation as soon as possible. He added “if a company does not wish to follow the transparency initiative it means they have different values than us and we don’t want to deal with a company like that”. He also noted the bill will definitelybe passed next year.
Tolosa furthered the Ministry is implementing the transparency initiative scheme on mining companies. He then explained currently 35 international and local companies are included in the scheme.
“We are now working to be a full member on the initiative that includes 44 countries. The inclusion under the initiative will benefit the country and the sector development, we are working hard to minimize the time before we become a full member at EITI and we hope to finish the process within a year,” Tolosa added.
According to the Minister countries that have joined the initiative have registered good changes. He added Ethiopia is not suffering that much from the mining sector for most of the companies that are in the country are on exploration stage. Yet, he reminded, the nation should be ready have to be
prepared during the early stages to prevent illegal activity for the sector is growing significantly.
According to Capital, EITI is an international organization that has developed a standard assessing the levels of transparency around countries’ oil, gas and mineral resources. The Standards include a set of requirements that governments and companies have to adhere to in order to become recognized as ‘EITI Compliant’.
EITI Standards are being implemented in 44 countries.
EITI is also said to assist strengthening accountability and good governance. In addition to this it will enhance promoting greater economic and political stability. This in turn is said to prevent conflicts based around the oil, mining and gas sectors.
Source: Capital
