House to debate mining in the ‘national interest’

FLORENCE MUGARULA in Dodoma

SPEAKER of the National Assembly, Mr Job Ndugai, leads Parliamentary Steering Committee in Dodoma, yesterday. On his right is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled), Ms Jenista Mhagama. (Photo by Bunge)

THE ongoing Parliamentary sessions are set to be extended till next Wednesday to give Members of Parliament more time to work on three bills as requested by President John Magufuli.

Parliament Speaker Mr Job Ndugai informed MPs yesterday after question-time that the president had officially written to Parliament asking MPs to debate and endorse three bills under a Certificate of Urgency – prompting the House to ex tend its sessions to July 5, this year.

The bills in question include the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2017; the Natural Wealth and Contracts (Review and Renegotiation of Unconscionable terms) Act, 2017; and the Natural Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty) Act 2017.

According to Mr Ndugai, the Parliamentary Steering Committee met on Wednesday and discussed President Magufuli’s letter, complete with the reasons behind tabling the laws on a Certificate of Urgency Terms and consented.

Mr Ndugai said he had already directed the Parliamentary Constitutional and Legal Affairs Commit tee to immediately start working on one of the bills immediately; the two committees would also start working on the other bills from yesterday, hopefully bringing them safely to harbour this Sunday – and invited other MPs to join these committees to come, listen, learn and gain knowledge from their deliberations.

“The committee will start working on the bills from today till Sunday … debating and (hopefully) endorse the bills between Monday and Wednesday,” the Speaker explained.

However, the proposal to extend parliamentary sessions was challenged by Kibamba MP (Chadema), Mr John Mnyika, who said it was difficult for the MPs to discuss and endorse three bills within such a short time, alleging that the current discussion on bad mining contracts were also a result of endorsing bills under ‘certificates of urgency.’

“In 1997, this House endorsed mining laws on a Certificate of Urgency which have brought us several challenges … including the ongoing mineral concentrates saga. “In 2005, this House also endorsed three bills on Certificate of Urgency … the bills dealt with natural gas and revenues. As a people’s representative, I request that this proposal be debated in this House,” he said.

However, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled), Ms Jenista Mhagama, countered Mr Mnyika’s statement, arguing that the government had followed all the procedures before bringing the bill to Parliament.