Appointment of board members to the mining fund for future generations (FOMIN)

The Makuta ya Maendeleo consortium, AFREWATCH, LITRASE, COGEP, the Publish What You Pay coalition and the Coordination of Advocacy Actions on Natural Resources are responding to the presidential ordinance of 3 December 2021 appointing the members of the Board of Directors and Management Committee of the Mining Fund for Future Generations (FOMIN).

While taking note of the appointments, they argue that these should have been preceded by an overhaul of the fund’s framework. As it stands, FOMIN’s regulatory and institutional framework has too many weaknesses: no clear intergenerational-equity policy, objectives that stray from the legislator’s intent, inadequate governance and transparency mechanisms, and no rules on withdrawals, budgeting, independent oversight or investment-risk limits to guarantee the intergenerational sharing of mining revenues envisaged by the 2018 Mining Code. Without a comprehensive overhaul, they caution, “FOMIN would be stillborn.”

The signatories therefore call on Prime Minister Sama Lukonde to convene a stakeholder workshop to redefine the fund’s objectives, governance and management rules by consensus.