Using Africa's resources for Africa

Your article on the wise use of resources (Pambazuka News 167) reminds me of what is happening in East Africa.

The British have continued to mine soda ash in Kenya without certification. Now the local community is advocating for revision of the agreements to ensure that their interests are taken care of but government is going against the community. A similar thing is happening in Tanzania where mining of several minerals is now in the hands of South Africans with no agreements with the people who have sacrificed to keep the minerals. Now they are relocated with poorly negotiated agreements that favour multinationals at the expense of local community.

I would like to commend you for the article and advocate for NEPAD to ensure that we do not encourage taking advantage of the local communities because of their lack of negotiation power.

I am a natural resource manager in Kenya and I am worried with the trends taking shape in Africa. There is a need to build the capacities of the local communities for them to be able to renegotiate and come up with resource use arrangements that are morally right and that can contribute to the development of the rural populations and African countries at large.

Enock Kanyanya, Kenya