By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The National Advocacy Coalition on Extractives (NACE) has welcomed the enactment of the new Mines and Minerals Development Act 2022 but has criticized the allocation of the surface rent to Members of Parliament and chiefs, saying that it is not a development fund but an entitlement of the landowners.
NACE in a press statement stated that while the new law seeks to provide for improved employment, and employment practices in the mineral sector, provides for improved welfare for communities affected by exploration, mining, and related activities as well as for more effective measures to reduce the harmful effects of exploration and mining activities on life, properties and the environment “it continues to unfairly distribute land owner’s surface rents.”
The statement quoted the National Coordinator of NACE, Cecilia Mattia emphasizing that the 10% from surface rent for Members of Parliament and Chiefs was not a positive step or decision, noting that money paid as surface rent is not a development fund. She said the surface rent is rather the entitlement of landowners for the annual use of their property by mining companies.
She pointed out that, the Act makes clear that, surface rent is the monetary payment that a holder makes to the owner of the land on which the holder intends to conduct exploration or production activities.
“It is therefore unfair for such money to be taxed above the standard property rate of 10%,” she said.
She recalled how Members of Parliaments (MPs) publicly pronounced the abolition of the Constituency Development Fund, due to what they said was creating problems between them and their constituents, yet she said they have gone ahead to take 10% from the rent of the same.
“Nowhere in the world would you observe either in the laws, regulations, or a policy that 10% of surface rent is allocated to Chiefs and MPs. This is, therefore, not progressive, let the surface rent stay with communities,” she emphasized.
The statement noted that the law makes provision for 20% royalties, which must be judiciously utilized by Chiefs, MPs, and Councils in undertaking their respective local development projects.
The Extractives Advocacy group acknowledged that the new Mines and Minerals Development Act 2022 is a result of widely and rigorously scrutinized processes that involve extensive nationwide consultations with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and other stakeholders, however, Mattia told Politico that the lawmakers went contrary to what the people wanted in relation to the surface rent. Therefore, she urged President Julius Maada Bio to look into that aspect before approving the law.
They also call on the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Resources (MMMR) and MPS to speedily develop and apply regulations that will operationalize the law.
The law which was enacted on Tuesday 9th August 2022, by the Parliament of Sierra Leone repealed and replaced the old Mines and Minerals Act, 2009. It seeks to improve provisions for the socio-economic benefit of the country.
NACE emerged from the Diamond Area Community Development Fund coalition that was established in 2003, whose mandate and scope were later broadened to become NACE. It is a coalition of National and International Organizations working on the extractives sector in Sierra Leone.
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