Mitandao ya kuweka wazi mikataba ya Gesi na Mafuta yazinduliwa

Tuesday, September 29, 2015  

Taasisi inayoshughulika na kuimarisha demokrasia katika Asasi za kiraia na ushirikiano katika jamii ya Afrika Mashariki na Uchumi wa dunia, The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), leo imezindua rasmi Mitandao ya kuweka wazi mikataba ya Gesi na Mafuta nchini Tanzania.

Mitandao hiyo iliyosheheni mkusanyiko wa taarifa za kutosha kuhusiana na Nishati ya Mafuta na Gesi nchini, imeambatana na makala mbalimbali zenye taarifa kuhusu uchumi wa Mafuta na Gesi katika nchi za kiafrika zikiwemo Kenya, Ghana, Iraq, Libya na nyinginezo zilizotafsiriwa pia kwa Lugha ya Kiswahili.

Uzinduzi huo uliohudhuriwa na wadau mbalimbali wakiwemo viongozi wa ngazi za juu serikalini, waandishi wa habari na wadau kutoka asasi za kiraia, uliambatana na maelezo ya kina pamoja na mjadala wa wazi kuhusiana na namna Sera za Uwazi na Uwajibikaji wa taarifa zinazohusu Nishati hizo zitakavyoweza kuwanufaisha wananchi wa ngazi zote na taifa kwa ujumla.

Hata hivyo, pamoja na jitihada kubwa zilizoelezwa kufanyika kuweza kufanikisha mpango huo wa kudhamiria kuweka wazi mikataba ya Mafuta na Gesi ili kuepusha nafasi za ulaghai, changamoto mbalimbali ziliainishwa.

Changamoto hizo ni pamoja na ugumu wa kutafsiri maelezo ya kitaalamu kuja kwa lugha ya Kiswahili (baadhi ya maneno yalikuwa hayana tafsiri ya moja kwa moja), Upatikanaji wa taarifa/nyaraka sahihi kutoka serikalini kupitia wizara zinazohusika, uelewa wa wananchi kuhusu taarifa hizo na kadhalika.

Mgeni rasmi aliyealikwa kufungua uzinduzi huu ni Prof. Mussa Assad ambaye ni Mdhibiti na Mkaguzi Mkuu wa Hesabu za Serikali (CAG), huku akiwa ameongozana na Mheshimiwa Ludovick Utoh (CAG mstaafu).

Wengineo kwa uchache ni Ndg Ernest Sungura (Mkurugenzi wa Tanzania Media Foundation), Aidan Eyakuze (Mkurugenzi wa TWAWEZA) na Mkurugenzi wa Jamii Media, Ndugu Maxence Melo.

Today FES Tanzania launches the Tanzania Oil and Gas Almanac and present other tools aimed at promoting transparency in Tanzania's oil and gas sector.

The invitees include senior government officials, policy makers, members of parliament, representatives of civil society and international organisations as well as journalists to a guided tour around the Tools for Transparency and Information Platforms with presentations from FESTanzania, OpenOil and the Natural Resource Governance Institute.

The event takes place at Serena Hotel in Dar es salaam and Jamii Media will be there to cover the updates for you. Please be with us here on JamiiForums.

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PROF. ASSAD (CAG -TANZANIA)

The launch has already started and now the current CAG of Tanzania, Prof Mussa Assad, who is also the guest of honor of this event, is addressing on Resources for All: The need for Transparency in Oil and Gas Sector Extractive Industries.

This an historic event in this extractive industry in Tanzania. All who made this happen, i congratulate them. It will help key stakeholders in the industry.

We, in Tanzania are almost still using the old stone age technology.

Tanzania's Controller and Auditor General is the Guest of Honour

Bad governance produces poor development outcomes.

You cannot argue from a position of ignorance.

We want to have Transparency in this Country, Tanzania

Where there's a will, there's a way!

The swahili Almanac is a new thing. It's the first swahili almanac in the world

Let other organisations emulate this example to create an informed society for development.

SAMUEL BEKOE (GHANA)

Transparency is just the beginning of accountability but the road is bumpy... What role can #OpenData Play?

Catalysing Open Data for Extractives (CODEX) - NRGI’s Open Data Initiatives

Africa Regional Associate, NRGI

When citizens know about contracts, they can play a big role in guarding them!

Accountability is more than just releasing information! The road is really bumpy!

It's important that when we are looking at the extractive data, we need to look on the Government engagement strategy

Data sharing between stakeholders is key #OpenData

More extractive data expected to be released

Contract disclosure portals: Maximize public access to, & comprehension of, Mining, Oil & gas contracts.

Strategies to Leverage

ANTON RUHLING - Open Oil

Bulyanhulu (Acacia) Gold mine - Money Model inputs and assumptions

The Wiki Plaform is a country-level reference guide on Oil and Gas

Abdallah Katunzi - Chief Editor of the Tanzania Oil and Gas Almanac

The plaform was created by OpenOil in 2011. It is a family of Oil and Gas Almanacs.

Availabe in Ghana,Kenya,Uganda, S. Sudan,Liberia, S. Leone, Iran,Colombia,Egypt, Colombia,Niger,Azerbaijan,Liby a,Syria & Sudan

The plaform creates a richer ‘info-sphere’ in Tanzania targeting different stakeholders in Oil & Gas

The TZ Oil & Gas Almanac exists in English (more than 90 articles) and Swahili (more than 65 articles) version

People are in need of O&G information, but the information is not readily available

The information in the almanac is fully sourced - gives you relevant references to revisit

Each paragraph in the almanac is referenced

The almanac is only the first step, what is important is how we translate the knowledge for common use

Twaweza’s survey - 51% of the surveyed respondents expect to get O&G information from the media, 31% frm government

BEN TAYLOR - (Twaweza)
A Wiki is normally available for edits, how are you going to maintain it?

LUDOVIC UTTOUH - (former CAG):
How will u address the information malnutrition? The translation task shouldn't be done by the Government

ABDALAH KATUNZI
Our Wiki is a closed wiki, only authorised editors can make necessary edits

We will engage the private sector for translation

We will discuss internally on how to link the Wiki with the Ministry communication strategy

ROLF (FES)
We will run and update the Almanac although there is scarcity of contributors, we are open for debate on this

We have to be as neutral as we can but the Wiki should not be controlled by anyone, or run by the govt

MIRENYI
We need a serious dedication in translating terms in the Oil and Gas sector to Swahili

ERNEST SUNGURA - (TMF)
We already have trained several journalists on the extractive industry. We are ready to co-operate!


SAMUEL BEKOE
Some International Oil firms are ready to release data to the public but don't want to make enemies with govt

Transparency goes beyond information, even contracts should be disclosed by Oil Companies


Aidan Eyakuze - (Twaweza)
Last week was an interesting week for us and data

I would like to caution us from being driven by data and spare a thought for its consumers

I think the Almanac and OpenOil tools are fantastic!

We have a responsibility of translating data into a way people will understand

What matters about transparency is how to make it work better!

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Closing remarks from Rolf of FES, giving thanks to the JamiiForums team for these updates