Top Kenyan Official Proposes Uniform Mining Regulation For Africa

Kenya’s mining cabinet secretary, Najib Balala on Thursday said that he has initiated a campaign for a single-mining regulation across Africa, to curb unhealthy competition among the resource-rich countries and exploitation from foreign miners. The lack of information on international derivatives for mining taxes, and competition between African governments to attract mineral explorers with cheap levies has led to insufficient compensation for the continent’s resources. According to Oxfam, developing countries lose an estimated $100bn to $160bn annually to corporate tax exploitation and this money is equivalent of more than half of the fund spent on health by governments throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Another institution, Global Financial Integrity has estimated that developing countries lose $100bn annually from trade mispricing alone. Balala announced the continent-wide framework at the third edition of the annual Mining Business and Investment Conference in Nairobi, adding that he had proposed the plan to “Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),” and that his focus is on East and Southern African nations before progressing to other regions. “We want uniformity in Africa. If we have competition in Africa and we are exploited by foreign firms then we will never solve the curse of minerals,” Business Daily quoted the Kenyan official as saying. Citing Congo’s rueful example, he stresses a transparent, uniform and increased mining tax framework would help African countries generate sufficient compensation for their resources. In Kenya recently, royalties for precious minerals such as titanium, niobium and rare earth have been increased to 10 percent of gross sales from 3 percent. “If investors think the royalties are high, then bad luck,” Balala quipped. Venture Africa