EDITORIAL : THE CITIZEN, TANZANIA

WE MUST BE VERY CAUTIOUS ON THE URANIUM RESOURCE

If endowment of  natural resources were  the  major yardstick of  economic development, some countries in Africa, a continent sweepingly characterised as poor,  would rank very highly on the charts of exemplary achievers.

This isn’t the case, and represents the often-cited paradox of resources being a curse rather than a blessing.  Regrettably,  that  cruel reality registered belatedly in the African continent, but more regrettably, even after the ‘registration’, either nothing, or very little is being done to curb the trend.

The chief reason lies in  such misdeeds as greed, corruption and political opportunism. Past and current civil wars, as well as instability in countries like Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo,  are to a large extent fuelled by  the desire to plunder or control resources like minerals and forest products for selective benefits.

The plunder,  as well as evil  schemes hatched by an alliance of foreigners and corrupt nationals  to ensure that the majority  owners   of those resources are exploited  will continue, so  long as some individuals in ruling circles subordinate  nationalistic and patriotic interests to private ones.   

But even in resource-rich  countries where patriotic goodwill is plentiful,  this helps very little, and in some cases not at all,  because they are at the mercy of  powerful corporate interests in the industrially and economically powerful nations. The magnitude can only be reduced if governments in poor countries like Tanzania exercise extra caution,  to avoid signing  contracts. that literally  translate into mortgaging their wealth  away for so-called peanuts. 

This, indeed, is what Tanzania, for one, has learnt fairly belatedly. Governments of the post-economic liberalisation era decided to  engage full gear – as it were –  in  exploiting its vast mineral resources.

Foreign investors

But lacking the financial and related means to undertake that most demanding  financial and technological enterprise,  they have inescapably relied on the participation of foreign investors, whose activities are largely seen as representing exploitation of  Tanzanians.

The original, and essentially noble mission of Tanzanians  to exploit  their mineral resources for their collective benefit has by and large been turned upside-down. Fortunately, remedial measures are being taken, thanks in part to sentiments raised by MPs and activists.

Sentiments in similar vein are  also gathering momentum on the land question, to ensure that a judicious balance is struck between  the country benefiting from huge foreign  investments in tracts of land, and not antagonising the many citizens who are  relocated elsewhere. Many of these claim that  they are  given compensations that don’t match the value of the vacated land.

Uranium deposits in Tanzania, currently in the exploratory stage, represent essentially good news,  but potentially bad news too. Good, if the government ensures that it avoids replicas of the lopsided mining sector contracts, and bad if it pursues a lax approach that would spell economic disadvantages.

Equally importantly, Tanzania, which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Nuclear Safeguards Agreement, must be on full alert, considering that the resource is, in  virtually  equal measure, highly beneficial and highly destructive.

The benefits include low-carbon electricity production and life-saving medical applications such as X-ray machines. The manufacturing of  nuclear weapons and creating warfare-induced panic are among the negative aspects.

Beyond striving to reap maximum benefits  as hosts of the resource, the country,  as a member of the global family, should, in partnership with good-willed stakeholders,  endeavour to ensure that Tanzania-sourced uranium is not abused as an agency for fuelling warfare. It must play the angel; not the devil.