The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Patty Magubira
7 July 2009
Nyamongo — A resident of Tarime District in Mara Region has called for the resignation of the Health and Social Welfare minister for allegedly ignoring the villagers' health problems.
Mr Malecho Chacha Malecho, from Kewanja village, Kemambo ward, told visiting members of the parliamentary committees on Environment as well as Energy and Minerals at the village that the minister's belated response to the villagers' complaints over pollution of Tigite River contributed to some villagers' deaths resulting from the contaminated water.
The former storekeeper with the North Mara Gold Mine (NMGM) said the mine's tailing ponds were not furnished with liners to prevent toxic water from them tailing ponds seeping into the river ever since the mine was established in 2001.
The tailing ponds were only surrounded by fences, he said, strongly denying the mine's report on the liners being regularly stolen by villagers surrounding the mine.
The committees are in Tarime to probe villagers, leaders of local authorities, experts and the mine management on allegations that over 30 villagers and 300 cows died at Kibasuka ward recently as a result of drinking contaminated water from the river.
The committee members, chaired by the Kongwa MP Job Ndugai, were accompanied by the minister of State in the Vice-President's Office (Environment), Dr Batilda Burian, Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja, Health and Social Welfare deputy minister Asha Kigoda, and regional and district experts.
Another villager, Mr Mosabi Waisami, told the lawmakers that the timing of their three-day tour of villages surrounding the mine indicated that they were forced by next year's general election when they are supposed to defend their seats.
He said the villagers were since 2002 complaining about the river water being contaminated, but the MPs waited until one year was left ahead of next year's general election before taking action.
Mr Waisama said the root cause of the damaged rapport between the villagers and the mine was failure of the mine management to implement promises made during the establishment of the mine.
"The relationship between the villagers and the mine has been damaged because the mine does not support community development projects," he said.
He explained that the mine promised to provide the villagers with a newly constructed hospital, schools and roads but to no avail.
Another villager, Mr Joseph Marwa, said the production at the mine dated back to 2001 when the villagers were promised to be compensated their residential houses and farms situated a stone's throw from the mine, yet few villagers were so far dubiously compensated. "A compensated villager ended up receiving only Sh60, 000,"he explained.
He asked the Energy and Minerals minister to explain on the criteria used for the payment of compensation.
Another resident of Matongo village, Mr Warungu Sultan, said the Tigite River was contaminated by the mine's stockpile with potential acid forming (PAF) rocks whose dust was washed down into the river.
This led to villagers who used on the river water to be infected with various diseases, he said. The man who claimed to be a geologist and who was fired from the mine, said Gokona pit rocks had silica which caused tuberculosis that could never be cured.
"I advised the investors then to install plastic liners at the waste water ponds to prevent the side effects, but they ignored me," he said.
The management of the mine, instead, used sodium hydroxide to dilute the acid in the ponds, he said.
He, therefore, called on the Government to consider making a check-up of the health of the villagers and livestock, lest they all perish.
Mr Sultan suggested that the mine should be closed to pave way for the management to put in place relevant infrastructure. It should evict the villagers if it cannot provide them with alternative sources of water, he suggested.
Kemambo councillor Augustine Sasi said the damaged rapport between the villagers and the mine could only be restored if small-scale miners were provided with mining areas for them to secure employment opportunities.
The spokesman of Barrick Gold Tanzania, Mr Teweli Teweli, had earlier asked the Government to appoint an independent committee to investigate the villagers' allegations if the damaged relations are to be restored.
Tarime MP Charles Mwera, who is also a member of the parliamentary Committee on Environment, called on residents of villages surrounding the troubled mine to accord the law makers due cooperation.
He said doing so would enable them find a lasting solution to their health problems resulting from contaminated river water. "All experts are with us here, and will have to explain," he said.
He assured the villagers that an expert who would not provide a reasonable explanation regarding the villagers' health woes would be fired immediately.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Citizen. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
