By ADAM IHUCHA--Tanzanite gemstone exclusively mined in
Mererani hills in northern Tanzania worth $400 million was smuggled out of the
country to Kenya and India in 2013.
Commissioner of minerals, Paul Masanja says that nearly 80
percent of entire Tanzanite gemstone’s output was smuggled over porous borders
into Kenya, an important regional hub for international gemstone markets.
“Whereas Tanzania exported $38 million worth of tanzanite in
2013, Kenya and India’s gemstone imports were valued at $100 and $300 millions,
respectively” Mr. Masanja explains.
This means that the smuggling of Tanzanite gemstone denied
the country its fair share of $400 million just in 2013 alone.
Disclosure comes at a time when the country is enforcing
tighter control and stricter laws, in its efforts to curb the Tanzanite
smuggling and boost the country's returns from the precious stone.
For instance, in July, 2010, Tanzania, the world’s sole
source of Tanzanite, outlawed exports of rough stone weighing above one gram,
in a bid to compel the world’s gemstone dealers to invest in the country and
spur development of local processing industry.
The embargo was part of the Mining Act of 2010, which
intends to create massive employments for Tanzanians, recoup profits and thus
boosting the economy of scale through Tanzanite gemstone value addition.
But, five years now, statistics show a lion’s share of rough
Tanzanite still finds its way to India, where it creates a multi-million dollar
business empire and thousands of jobs.
Tanzania Mineral Dealers Association (TAMIDA) Chairman,
Sammy Mollel says that Tanzanite exported in raw form creates 250,000 jobs in
Jaipur, India.
“Our problem is implementation, but the rationally behind
the ban was to make Arusha an Africa’s gemstone hub, where all gemstones would
have been cut and polished for exports” Mr Mollel explained.
Tanzanite exports statistics from Tanzania Minerals Audit
Agency (TMAA) indicate that from 2010 to 2013 the country exported a total of
21,171,460 grams both rough and cut Tanzanite gemstone worth $83 million.
Of the total figure 21,056,270 grams were rough Tanzanite
equivalent to 99.45 percent worth $54 million, compared to 115,160 grams of cut
tanzanite, representing 0.54 percent valued at $29 million.
Literally, nearly 99.5 percent of Tanzanite output over the
period under review was weighing less a gram, implying that the state rushed to
control exports of less than one percent of production.
This means that 0.5 percent of Tanzanite production was
processed locally, creating merely 119 jobs, Mr. Mollel says, leaving as higher
as 99.5 percent been exported in a raw form, generating 250,000 employments in
Jaipur city of India.
No wonder the India’s Jaipur city in 2013 exported cut and
polished tanzanite into the world market worth $300 million, nearly eight times
of what Tanzania, earned in the same year.
This means that the country could earn eight times, from
Tanzanite trade, if the gemstones were exported as finished products. Globally,
tanzanite trade earns $500 million a year, with Tanzania, which is the only
source of the precious stone recording export revenues of $38 million
equivalent to 7.6 percent of trade value.
This implies that the country where the rate of unemployment
stands at 10.7 percent, not only exported thousands of jobs, but also lost multi-million
dollars in earnings to India where its rough gemstone is being processed,
before the finished gemstones finding their way to the US, which remains the
largest market for tanzanite, second in popularity only to sapphire.
In 2012, Tanzania was home to more unemployed 15 to
24-year-olds per capita than 109 other countries.
In a survey by the NGO known as Restless Development, out of
over 1,000 young people across Tanzania, only 14 percent reported working a
formal, wage-earning job.
According to the World Bank each year, 900,000 young
Tanzanians enter a job market that is generating only 50,000 to 60,000 new
employment opportunities.
Deputy Minister for Energy and Mineral, Stephen Masele says
that unscrupulous local master dealers are to blame for sabotaging the state
initiative.
“The government did what it takes to ensure Tanzanite
gemstone benefits its people, but some few local dishonest master dealers are
conspiring with foreigners to smuggle massive gemstone in raw form” Mr Masele
noted.
Analysts say the state needs to impose a total ban on export
of the entire Tanzanite production, if the Tanzanians are to benefit full from
the gemstone trade.
A natural resources law Lecturer at Tumaini Makumira
University Elifuraha Laltaika says lack of enforcement can be linked to lack of
capacity on the part of the government, in terms of manpower and technology.
“However, this is unpleasant news and the government should
remedy it as a matter of urgency.
There is no further we can go, it is like cooking food using
a leaking pot." Mr Laltaika says. Dr. Dalaly Kafumu, a Tanzania’s renowned
geologist-cum-politician believes that for Tanzanians to reap full benefits,
the rule that created Tanzanite-rich Mererani hills near Arusha a controlled
area should be enforced.
Commissioner, Masanja bought the idea of Dr. Kafumu, saying
they will seriously enforce the Mererani controlled area law in their latest
efforts to tighten noose on mineral smugglers.
“We are going to fence the entire Mererani hills with a 10
sq km and would be under 24 hours surveillance by mineral wardens who can
arrest smugglers and confiscate Tanzanite gemstone” Mr. Masanja explained.
Once enforced, the controlled territory means that
henceforth no one will be allowed to access Mererani mining area without
permission from the state.
All miners operating in Mererani mining territory will have
to be registered and issued with identity cards.
The state will also have to determine the procedures,
documentation and specific means to be used to establish a traceable chain of
documentation from dealer to the buyer.
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) also will be required to
review the documentation, including export permits and certificates of origin,
once the declaration come into force.
0 comments:
Post a Comment