Govt revenues
"Follow the money": new animated short
Oxfam America has just launched a new animated video showing how so little of the profits from extractive industries reach local communities. In the US the video is intended to encourage people to take action and contact their member of Congress regarding the Energy Security Through Transparency Act – a crucial piece of legislation that would require any company registered with the US authorities (Securities and Exchange Commission) to disclose their payments in every country of operation.
PWYP Welcomes Adoption of Transparency Act in Liberia
London: Publish What You Pay (PWYP)* welcomes the news that Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has signed a new transparency law which increases accountability over the management of the country’s natural resources.
Approved on 10 July 2009, the LEITI Act seeks to ensure that the benefits due to the government and people of Liberia from the exploitation of natural resources are “verifiably paid or provided; duly accounted for; and prudently utilized for the benefits of all Liberians….”
Revenues from oil, gas and mining must benefit all Cambodians, new coalition urges
Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency (CRRT), a new coalition of civil society organizations was launched today and urged the Royal Government of Cambodia, donors, private businesses, and other stakeholders to promote transparency in the management of revenues from oil, gas and mining to ensure that they benefit every citizen of Cambodia.
As Cambodia is expected to experience a sudden resource windfall, careful planning is needed to ensure that a sudden increase in revenues and expenditures are properly managed in a socially transparent and accountable manner that especially reaches the poorest Cambodians.
Mixed reaction to Tanzanian investment deal
Questions are being raised about how Tanzania’s plentiful mining sector will be affected by a potential gold rush from Canadian extractive companies, after the two countries concluded a foreign investment agreement.
Tanzania became the latest country to wrap up talks for a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with Canada after Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete flew to Canada and met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Oct. 4.
Tanzania: Activists Want Barrick Taxed On Gains
STAKEHOLDERS have called for the government to hurriedly charge and collect Capital Gains Tax from the African Barrick Gold (ABG) following reports that its mother company, Barrick Gold, intends to sell off its stakes to a Chinese investor.
The move follows information reported by foreign and local media last week that ABG had resolved to sell its 74 per cent stake in the Africa Barrick Gold (ABG) to the Chinese state owned China National Gold (CNG).
Delaware, Where Frackers Park Their Profits
Most people think of downtown Houston, Texas as ground zero for the oil and gas industry. Houston, after all, serves as home base for corporate headquarters of oil and gas giants, including the likes of BP America, ConocoPhillips, and Shell Oil Company, to name a few.
Comparably speaking, few would think of Wilmington, Delaware in a similar vein. But perhaps they should, according to a recent New York Times investigative report by Leslie Wayne.
Economic Crimes in Congo
FUNGURUME—The 73 million human beings who live here in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to struggle through one of the greatest humanitarian disasters on the planet since the end of the Second World War. By one estimate, more than 5 million people have died since the Second Congo War broke out in 1998. Fighting has just started up again in eastern Congo; hundreds are already dead, and there may already be more than 200,000 refugees, adding to the 2 million Congolese already displaced by war.
Don’t Sweep Report under Carpet, PWYP Nigeria Warns
The Federal Government has been called upon to ensure that the findings of the House of Representatives Committee on Oil Subsidy are not swept under the carpet; but that the weighty issues thrown up by the report are thoroughly examined and appropriate sanctions meted out to those indicted without fear or favour.
The Publish What You Pay (PWYP), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that promotes transparency in the management of the revenues from oil and non-oil mineral industries through the public declaration of what mineral exploitation companies pay to respective countries, made this
PWYP Indonesia members conduct training for sub-national stakeholders on revenue sharing calculation and EITI
On November 8 2011, PWYP-Indonesia members PATTIRO and LPAW Blora conducted a training event for local stakeholders in Bllora district, central Java, on oil and gas revenue sharing (DBH=dana bagi hasil) calculations and projections.
Black gold in Virunga, curse or saviour?
GOMA – A sign in Kinshasa’s international airport reads ‘Tourism: the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).’ It is ironic given the current state of play. For instead of a warm welcome, visitors arriving at the N’Djili aerodrome are more likely to be greeted with interrogation, extortion and possible deportation, helping to drive tourist flows to more tranquil destinations.
Meanwhile, the government of President Joseph Kabila is hamstrung by lack of capital, holding back badly needed development in the impoverished Central African country.
