tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post7987428074909447664..comments2024-02-24T06:10:42.255-08:00Comments on Congo Siasa: Mining transparency in the DRC: all or nothing?Jason Stearnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11454449854081540397noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-25860153354164714432013-03-28T13:19:12.116-07:002013-03-28T13:19:12.116-07:00I've been using Google Sketchup Pro for just o...I've been using Google Sketchup Pro for just over a year and I think I'm ready to move onto a better, more professional software. What do you recommend?.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://intercad.com.au/" rel="nofollow">Solid works</a></b> intercadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17884138710695429772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-46064397604852647842013-03-07T02:11:20.833-08:002013-03-07T02:11:20.833-08:00@ E Caesens CongoMines
Thanx for your insightful ...@ E Caesens CongoMines<br /><br />Thanx for your insightful posts. In truth my intervention has two hands.LOL. <br /><br />On one hand I fully agree with the thrust of your point; corruption in a country like Congo is intolerable, disclosure of contracts and transparent operations in the extractive industry there cannot be debated. I would even suggest that there be a clause in the Congolese constitution that enforces this. You are also right that a minority in DRCgov wants things to change. On their own, companies like TenkeFunkurumeMining and Randgold & AngloGoldAshanti now regularly publicise their dealings. But things should be formalized. All major companies in the sector should be compelled by law to be public and listed on a securities exchange. That way, their dealings and financial results will be properly scrutinized. Why is such an obvious thing not yet done? Your guess is mine too: opportunism, amateurism and sheer incompetence of many amongst those in charge.<br /><br />On the other hand, it is now evident that the overwhelming pressure from the IMF-WB and affiliates on Congo is more of a malicious assailment than anything genuine. When it comes to Congo, ad-hoc standards are unfairly applied, new conditions are invented, unreachable goal posts keep getting shifted. If it is not the “revision of Chinese contracts”, it is the handing over of Ntaganda to ICC, or the elections, or the mining contracts disclosure, or whatever else. <br /><br />PS<br />It should be said that about human affairs, it is nurture rather than nature. What (democracy, transparency…) looks now like nature in some places has been nurtured over time with ebbs and flows. A just and transparent governance in Congo generally is attainable too. We shall all pressure those in charge to this end.<br /><br />muanacongo<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02679890703198501517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-28942894635214630162013-03-06T08:12:30.723-08:002013-03-06T08:12:30.723-08:00Thanks for both comments. While this piece was not...Thanks for both comments. While this piece was not primarily about the IMF and contract disclosure, muana congo's response almost calls for a second blog post.<br /><br />I agree transparency should come from the inside rather than through lender or NGO pressure. But transparency is as much a matter of nurture as of nature, and nurture is a long-term thing. Both tax and contract disclosure are new trends, barely a decade old. The rhetoric is already there - "rassurez-vous, we'll publish everything from the protocole d'accord to the liquidation terms". But not everyone shares the rhetoric and practice is therefore hindered. International pressure can help those within the government who genuinely see disclosure as a matter of good governance to convince those who don't.<br /><br />In the DRC, the internalization process has been going on since 2007, when the Ministry of Finance published most of the contracts signed<br />before 2006 at the beginning of the contract review process. This disclosure at an unprecedented scale was the result from IMF and NGO pressure though. At the end of the contract review, renegotiated terms remained secret.<br /><br />The IFIs would still put selective pressure, but only for new, controversial deals (e.g. Metalkol, Sodifor). Yet, the Ministry of Mines went further. To comply with the 2011 contract publication decree (in itself a WB requirement, sure), it sent a letter to all state-owned companies asking for copies of the renegotiated agreements. Sodimico complied pretty instantly, SOKIMO took a bit longer. Gécamines only agreed to publish the controversial Mutanda and Kansuki contracts because the IMF loan was at risk.<br /><br />The eventual trigger to get the missing Gecamines (and most other) contracts out was another problematic deal, the Comide transaction, the mere existence of which remained secret for almost a year. This time the IMF didn't just ask for Comide, it insisted that all contracts be published. One by one, the contracts came out. Yet the wide-scale contract disclosure was not merely the result of external pressure, it's the result of some within the government who are in favor of disclosure. The fact that it coincided with more serious EITI implementation is not a coincidence.<br /><br />Again, not all share this view, and the Comide contract symbolizes that. While other contracts got out, the Comide deal didn't. According to the Government, there actually is no real contract that regulates the transfer of the Comide stake from Gecamines to Straker (a Gertler company). Instead of publishing a contract, the Government released a memo (http://mines-rdc.cd/fr/documents/avenants/Cession_gcm_comide.pdf). But the memo didn't touch upon some of the issues the IMF had asked clarification about. As a result, they let the loan expire. Political decision at a difficult time for sure, but also the result of a back-and-forth about disclosure which has been going on for years. <br /><br />The most interesting time is now. Does the government keep publishing contracts or does it really need the IMF's insistence on additional<br />disclosure? Will the Government address the underlying structural problems that make them reluctant to release contracts in the first<br />place, or will they try to avoid such finer conditionality in upcoming discussions with the IMF? The good thing is that these issues are now<br />on the table, that the process is as lively as ever, and that there is a group within the government who wants to tackle these issues.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01185729751946961890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-52980799981735189382013-03-06T07:30:53.729-08:002013-03-06T07:30:53.729-08:00he post is pretty interesting. I really never thou...he post is pretty interesting. I really never thought I could have a good read by this time until I found out this site. I am grateful for the information given. Thank you for being so generous enough to have shared your knowledge with us.<br /><a href="http://businesscashadvanced.com/" rel="nofollow">merchant cash advance</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10898504505567262593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-78290069512211984432013-03-03T02:28:50.098-08:002013-03-03T02:28:50.098-08:00This was an excellent article until the author men...This was an excellent article until the author mentioned the IMF.<br /><br />For starters there should be an “absolute transparency” in DRC’s mining sector, not to please NGOs or so called donors (rather lenders), but as a internal requirement of openness and good governance.<br /><br />That said, the decision by the IMF to suspend the $225M loan to DRC was primarily “political”. Remember that it was taken just as Kagame troops (M23) invaded Goma. Then the Rwanda/Kagamist head of African Development Bank Kaberuka also cancelled loans to DRC in “solidarity” with IMF, so he said. In other words, all joined in to kick a lying man that was Congo. This has never happened to any other country in the world, only against Congolese people.<br /><br />Coming to the Gecamines-Comide-Straker contract that IMF used as an excuse to punish Congolese people. The IMF decision was disproportionate and disingenuous. First, the DRCgov has published more than 130 contracts including Gecamines-Comide-Straker contract. The contention was rather on the term “technical litigation” used by DRCgov. If so why did IMF not seek further explanation from DRCgov, and just rushed to cancel the loan? Does the IMF support Dodd Frank Act on Congo as well?<br /><br />In any case, the cataclysm expected to Congolese economy didn’t happen. The hyperinflation envisaged didn’t happen. Rather, all macroeconomic fundamentals remain sound. The resilient African giant (Congo) marches on!<br /><br />All in all, IMF and WB are a bane on African economies. NO country has developed with their “one fits all” policies of structural adjustments and the “Washington Consensus” dogmas. It is a pity that Africans are intimidated by these bullies. Like Koreans, Japanese, Brasilians, Chinese… real development does not come from politically motivated statistics by IMF and WB. It comes from infrastructure development and indegenisation of the economy. <br /><br />Humanity needs an alternative to the IMF and WB. Let’s hope that the new bank to be created by the BRIC nations (Brasil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will provide that.!<br /><br />muana congo<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02679890703198501517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-34439895580408789302013-03-02T16:09:11.326-08:002013-03-02T16:09:11.326-08:00Elisabeth Caesens makes a persuasive argument here...Elisabeth Caesens makes a persuasive argument here that some progress on EITI is better for the Congolese people than leaving the process entirely. She is obviously extremely well informed on mining in DR Congo, and therefore she must be taken seriously. <br />What is also needed, though, is even more pressure from donors and lenders. She explains that when the IMF finally canceled the $225 million loan rather than allow the Kabila government to continue hiding contracts, it started to reveal more facts.<br />Relations between the DR Congo government and the mining multinationals that are returning to the country get much less attention than the violent flare-ups in the eastern part of the country. But you could argue that such relations are even more important for the future of the country.James Northhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13700348921890574828noreply@blogger.com