TANZANIA: AGs working on deleting oil, gas from union matters

BY MWINYI SADALLAH.

The process of deleting oil and natural gas related matters from the list of Union matters is underway following the formation of a special committee made up of Attorneys General from the Union and Zanzibar governments.

The matter was revealed on Friday by the Minister of State in the Zanzibar Second Vice President’s Office Mohamed Aboud when responding to a question by a member of the House of Representative for Muyuni (CCM) Jaku Hashim Ayoub, in the on going House session.

Minister Aboud said the formation of a special committee was a key step towards the implementation of the decision passed by the House of Representative in 2009.

“This matter has been left in the hands of the attorneys general to work on it on grounds of law and related expertise. The people should be calm while work is in progress,” he stated.

He said that in principle oil and natural gas matter is a union matter as per the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.

Aboud explained that since the formation of the committee to deal with Union burning issues in 2006, about 13 issues have been discussed.

The minister observed that six burning issues have been resolved including the formation of a commission for human rights and good governance, establishment of the Constituency Development Catalyst Fund (CDCF) and approval for Zanzibar to borrow from international financial institutions.

He cited pending burning issues as the distribution of revenues from the Bank of Tanzania, Zanzibar participation in the East African Community and its benefits as well as the common fund in the central government budget.

Minister Aboud noted that on the matter of the Common Fund, the Zanzibar government has given its suggestions and is waiting for suggestions of the Union government.

Zanzibar’s position is to seek membership of the East African Community autonomously instead of its current status—under the United Republic of Tanzania. Currently EAC has five member states namely Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

Minister Aboud told the House that meetings on Union burning issues are coordinated by the Vice President’s Office. He said that last year the committee met 19 times at various levels including the secretariat, permanent secretaries and ministers.

The United Republic of Tanzania was established on April 26 1964 following the union of Tanganyika then led by President Julius Nyerere and Zanzibar under Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume. There are claims that the list of matters has been kept changing without proper consultation from Zanzibar. The original list contained in the official document, called the Articles of Union established in 1964 had 11 matters.

Some of those matters are foreign affairs and international relations, currency and central bank, defence, police, citizenship and customs.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY (07/04/2013): http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=53238