Tarime councillors reject 1.6bn/- as service levy .

DAILY NEWS Reporter in Tarime

TARIME district councillors under their chairman, Mr Moses Misiwa rejected 1.6bn/- disbursed by the North Mara Gold Mine operated by Acacia Mining Plc as service levy.

The money had already been deposited into the District Council’s bank account to be used for the provision of social services to villagers surrounding the gold mine in Mara Region.

North Mara Gold Mine General Manager, Mr Gary Chapman, described the councillors’ decision as ‘strange’ as he showed a dummy cheque of 1,060,127,035.44 /- to reporters who had gathered at the Tarime District Council offices on Monday morning.

“This is the amount of money they are rejecting. I am extremely surprised and I find it strange, “ Mr Chapman said.

According to an agreement signed between the government and the mining company, the service levy is aimed at increasing the amount of money injected to community development projects.

This is the second time the company is paying the service levy to the Tarime District Council. Last year, it paid the council nearly 1bn/-in service levy. “As you might recall, around July last year the mine also handed over to the Tarime District Council service levy of nearly 1bn/- for the period of January to June 2015.

This makes a total of 2bn/- for the whole year,” Mr Chapman explained. The payment of service levy has replaced the annual royalty of 200, 0000 US dollars paid in the past.

The new arrangement, which is 0.03 per cent of the gold mine turnover, has seen significant increase of money paid by Acacia Mining Company not only to Tarime District Council but also to other district councils where the company is operating. Payment of the service levy resulted from fruitful negotiation between the government and the mining firm.

Tarime District Executive Director, Mr Athuman Akalama, confirmed that the company had already deposited the 1.6bn/- into council’s bank account and that what was to happen on Monday was only the official handing over of the funds by the gold mine.

“We started receiving service levy from North Mara Gold Mine last year and this was second payment and the money is in the council’s account,” he said. However, Tarime District Council chairman Mr Moses Misiwa said that “we’ll not receive the money until the mine gives us the turnover report.”

He won support from other councillors who constitute the financial committee. “After getting the turnover report, we’ll receive the money on February 10, the date for another council meeting.