Connect with us

News & Analysis

Accountability and Transparency in Natural Resources Benefit Sharing: Avoiding Resource Curse

Published

on

By Dr. Kariuki Muigua, PhD (Leading Environmental Law Scholar, Policy Advisor, Natural Resources Lawyer and Dispute Resolution Expert from Kenya), Winner of Kenya’s ADR Practitioner of the Year 2021, ADR Publisher of the Year 2021 and CIArb (Kenya) Lifetime Achievement Award 2021*

The Natural Resources (Benefit Sharing) Bill, 2018 seeks to establish a system of benefit sharing in resource exploitation between resource exploiters, the national government, county governments and local communities; and for connected purposes. The proposed legislation essentially seeks to provide a legislative framework for the establishment and enforcement of a system of benefit sharing in natural resource exploitation between natural resource exploiters, the national government, county governments and local communities and designates the Commission for Revenue Allocation to oversee the same.

Notably, the legislation shall apply to the following natural resources— sunlight; water resources; forests, biodiversity and genetic resources; wildlife resources; industrial fishing; and wind. The legislation, if enacted, will also amend the Mining Act 2016 by amending section 83 thereof in order to review the royalties payable. While the pending legislation will have a wide application and touching on the various types of natural resources, it is worth pointing out that the suggested amendment on the mining Act 2016 will have a huge bearing on the proceeds of mining activities in the country, if passed. The same seeks to ensure that all the interested stakeholders will have a share of the accruing benefits. The Bill has been pending for over five years due to the contentious issue of benefit sharing between national and county governments, amongst other issues.

The Benefit Sharing Bill addresses some important aspects encapsulated in the Africa Mining Vision 2009. This includes the fact that state’s ability to optimise the leasing (licensing) of its natural resource assets is concentrated at the outset (conclusion of the exploitation contract) as it is difficult to fundamentally renegotiate contracts at a later stage without sending negative signals to investors on the certainty of contracts, with resulting increased negative investment risk perceptions. The Mining Vision thus recommends identifying all the critical resource linkages at the outset (in the resource exploitation contract/lease/license), even if the local economy is not yet in a position to take advantage of such opportunities. These are some of the issues that the country’s legislative and institutional framework on extractives is trying to capture through enactment of laws and regulations. However, despite such efforts, implementation of these laws and regulations is doubtful. For instance, while there are regulations seeking to empower the local people on the extractives by equipping them with skills and expertise for technology transfer, there have been damning reports that the government agencies responsible for overseeing this are not carrying out their mandate.

Kenya’s Petroleum Ministry is on the spot for failing to utilize millions of shillings set aside for training Kenyans on petroleum operations despite the country facing a severe skills shortage. Empirical studies by other scholars have concluded that good institutional governance – specifically, a strong public voice with accountability, strong political stability, good regulations, and powerful anticorruption policies tend to conduce a positive relationship between natural resource richness and economic development. This is even clearer in the case of Nigeria where it has been reported that, despite the enactment of various laws, the culture of impunity and corruption has continued to occupy the country’s oil industry and poverty reduction remains elusive. However, this does not mean that Nigeria is not an implementing country of EITI. In 2019, Nigeria was rated as having made satisfactory progress overall with implementing the EITI Standard. Notably, the EITI Board points out that even if a country is found making satisfactory or meaningful progress, it does not indicate whether there is corruption in the country or not. It simply means that the country has put into practice significant aspects of all EITI Requirements and thus has sufficient mechanisms of public disclosure of natural resources. In other words, EITI membership and implementation alone is not enough.

In essence, the issues affecting the extractives sector in Kenya are not limited to those related to modes of benefit sharing. There has been a general lack of openness, transparency and accountability as far as the mining activities are concerned. Such situations may have informed the provisions in the Petroleum Act 2019 which provides under section 49 (5) that any contract is a public document and the Government shall have the right to publish and keep it publicly available. Despite this forward looking and commendable provision on accountability and transparency, we are yet to see the publication of such contracts touching on oil and gas agreements in the country. It is estimated that so far, out of the 44 Production Sharing Contracts signed by the government of Kenya, only 10 have been publicised.

In addition, as far as accessibility of information is concerned, it has been observed that the government of Kenya maintains an open data portal and has to some extent availed information on it on some of the on-going projects. However, key information regarding fiscal terms, negotiations and payments is missing on the sites. While there are many legal and regulatory framework covering contracts, exploration and production, it has rightly been pointed out that the legal framework on revenue collection, revenue allocation and social and economic spending is skeletal at best or is completely non-existent. In addition, the inclusion and involvement of civil societies, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders in the transparency and accountability framework is also missing as part of independent oversight across the value chain.

Transparency through public disclosure of the Production Sharing Agreements and other contracts that the government has signed with mining, oil and gas companies builds citizen confidence in the institutions overseeing the governance of the sector and assists in managing expectations. In addition, mining, oil and gas resources are owned by the citizens and are merely managed in trust by the government. Citizens, therefore, have a right to information regarding how their resources are managed. Transparency initiatives in the extractive industries have also made it possible for governments and citizens to engage in the governance of the sector where some governments such as Liberia, Sao Tome, Nigeria, Mongolia, and Ghana have used the EITI to either engage citizens in policy dialogue about resource utilization or governance issues of the extractive industries.

*This article is an extract from the Article: Securing Our Destiny through Effective Management of the Environment, (2020) Journal of Conflict Management and Sustainable Development Volume 4(3), p. 1.  by Dr. Kariuki Muigua, PhD, Kenya’s ADR Practitioner of the Year 2021 (Nairobi Legal Awards), ADR Publisher of the Year 2021 and ADR Lifetime Achievement Award 2021 (CIArb Kenya). Dr. Kariuki Muigua is a foremost Environmental Law and Natural Resources Lawyer and Scholar, Sustainable Development Advocate and Conflict Management Expert in Kenya. Dr. Kariuki Muigua is a Senior Lecturer of Environmental Law and Dispute resolution at the University of Nairobi School of Law and The Center for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law and Policy (CASELAP). He has published numerous books and articles on Environmental Law, Environmental Justice Conflict Management, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Sustainable Development. Dr. Muigua is also a Chartered Arbitrator, an Accredited Mediator, the Africa Trustee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Managing Partner of Kariuki Muigua & Co. Advocates. Dr. Muigua is recognized among the top 5 leading lawyers and dispute resolution experts in Kenya by the Chambers Global Guide 2022.

References

African Union, Africa Mining Vision 2009, p.17. Available at https://au.int/sites/default/files/ documents/ 30995-docafrica_mining_vision_english_1.pdf [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

EITI, “The Board agreed that Nigeria has made satisfactory progress overall with implementing the EITI Standard,” 27.02.2019; Reference: 2019-20/BP-42. Available at https://eiti.org/BD/2019-20 [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

EITI, “How We Work,” https://eiti.org/about/how-we-work#upholding-thestandard-internationally-validation [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

Jamah, A., “Stakeholders blame ‘secrecy clause’ to graft in Kenya mining sector,” Standard Digital, 19th Oct 2013. Available at https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000095810/stakeholders-blame secrecy-clause-to-graft-in-kenya-mining-sector [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

Kidunduhu, N., Transparency keeps resource curse at bay, Business Daily, Wednesday, August 7, 2019. Available at https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/analysis/ideas/Transparency-keepsresource-curse-at-bay/4259414-5227226-13y169t/index.html [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

Makore, G., “Kenya’s New Government and Imperatives for Extractives Governance Reform,” Oxfam, Wednesday, Feb 14, 2018. Available at https://kenya.oxfam.org/latest/blogs/kenya%E2%80%99s-new [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

Odote, C., “Release information on all extractives,” Business Daily, Sunday, June 30, 2019. Available at https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/analysis/columnists/Release-informationon-all-extractives/42593 56-5177330-vwfkao/index.html [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

Poncian, J., & Kigodi, H. M., “Transparency initiatives and Tanzania’s extractive industry governance,” Development Studies Research 5, no. 1 (2018): 106-121.

The Natural Resources (Benefit Sharing) Bill, 2018, Kenya Gazette Supplement No.130 (Senate Bills No.31).

Tubei, G., “Kenya’s Petroleum Ministry is on the spot for failing to utilize millions meant for training Kenyans on Petroleum operations despite massive skills shortage,” Business Insider, July 16, 2019. Available at https://www.pulselive.co.ke/bi/finance/millions-meant-for-training-kenyans-onpetroleum-operations-gather-dust-in-local/384gf52 [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

Wahome, M., “Kenya denies IMF access to secret mining agreements,” Business Daily, Sunday, July 21, 2013. Available at https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/economy/Kenya-denies-IMF-access-tosecret-mining-agreements/3946234-1922406-qjn73nz/index.html [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

Zeynalov, A., “Do Sufficient Institutions Alter the Relationship between Natural Resources and Economic Growth?” MPRA Paper 46850 (2013), at p. 11. Available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? abstract_id=2413867 [Accessed on 16/1/2020].

News & Analysis

Why is THE LAWYER AFRICA Listing Top Law Firms and Top Lawyers?

Published

on

By

The Litigation Hall of Fame | Kenya in 2023 (The Most Distinguished 50 Litigation Lawyers in Kenya).

We live in the age of information overload where too much information (TMI) is increasingly making it difficult to find actionable legal data about a good law firm or lawyer. At the same time, legal services are increasingly going digital and finding your next lawyer is a now a matter of a few clicks. Many existing, new and potential clients are interested to know more about the lawyer handling or likely to handle their next case or transaction as every HR Manager seeks to know how their In-house Lawyer or next hire compares to peers.

The biggest dilemma especially for commercial consumers of legal services  is where to begin the journey in finding the law firm or the lawyer to meet their immediate legal need created by their new venture,  business, transaction or dispute. In-house counsel are also called upon to justify opting for one lawyer or law firm or over the other.  Hence, the rise in the popularity of international law directories rankings as an attempt to fill the yawning gap by listing a few dozen lawyers and law firms in esoteric categories that often don’t align with the legal needs of the domestic legal market.

But ranking two dozen elite lawyers or big law firms in a big jurisdiction like Kenya there are over 20,000 lawyers is merely a drop in the ocean. The result is the same candidates are listed year after year and an In-house Legal Team looking to infuse new blood in their external counsel panel is left very little discretion. At best, International legal ranking only succeed to tilt the scales in favour of few big firms and their lawyers and to aid the choice of International Legal buyers who are constrained for time in picking their External Counsel in jurisdictions where they cannot find referrals.

The questions that beg are: What about the other top law firms and lawyers who are equally good if not better but don’t have the time to fill the technical paperwork that comes with International Legal Directories rankings? What about Domestic Legal Buyers who simply want to justify why they prefer a lawyer or law firm not listed in the International Directory? Can increasing the number of listed lawyers or law firms from less 0.1% of the profession (as captured by International Law Directories) to at least 1% of the profession or higher for those specializing in the practice area help in enhancing access to justice in Africa? Can ranking law firms by number of fee earners help in the quest for a more accurate bird’s eye view of a country’s legal landscape?

At THE LAWYER AFRICA, we have set out to list Top Law Firms and Top Lawyers in the various practice areas in a way that democratizes law rankings and listings and brings this essential value add within reach of most lawyers and every law firms doing top legal work. We don’t promise to list all the top lawyers or law firms, but we commit to make sure every lawyer or law firm we list is at the top of the game in the listed practice area. We aim to help both little known and already known law firms and lawyers doing top legal work in their area of specialization get discovered by discerning clients and possibly get more opportunities to do great work.

THE LAWYER AFRICA is looking to list up to Top 200 Law Firms in every African Jurisdiction based on their reputation and number of fee earners headcount with a goal of listing at least Africa’s Top 1,000 Law Firms which are leaders in their respective countries. We also seek to list up to Top 1,000 Lawyers in every country in Africa in at least five main practice areas, namely, Litigation, Commercial Law, Property law, In-house and Private Sector or more.

THE LAWYER AFRICA categorizes law firms in large jurisdictions as Top 5, Top 10, Top 20, Top 50 and Top 100 (and allow tying where number of counsel is equal). The Top Lawyers are listed in three categories, namely, Hall of Fame (the Distinguished Top 50 or 75 Practitioners in a Practice Area), Top 100 (the Leading Top 100 Practitioners in a Practice Area) and Up-and-Coming (the promising Top 50 or 75 Practitioners in a Practice Area).  The placing of a listings depends on a number of key factors including the number of key matters or transactions handled, years in practice and experience, size of team working under a counsel, reputation and opinion of peers (where available) as established by THE LAWYER AFRICA.

THE LAWYER AFRICA prefers to list a counsel in only one listing, as far as possible. The Team tries (as far as possible) not to contact listed law firms or lawyers before the listing is finalized in the first. However, a listed law firm or lawyer may be contacted at the pre-launch stage of a list for purposes of selling merchandise relating to the launch but such engagement will not affect the listing. In case of future listings, it is expected that interested lawyers or law firms who feel they were previously left out of the list may to provide information for consideration to determine if they qualify for the next listing but that will not guarantee any listing.

THE LAWYER AFRICA undertakes not to charge for listing any lawyer or law firm. However, upon publication of a listing, as part of recovering the sunk costs we incur in the research and publication of the listings, we shall charge a token for printing and shipping of Quality A3 Certificate for listed Law Firms and/or A4 Certificate for listed Lawyers who wish to have or display the branded souvenirs or to use our proprietary digital materials in their business  branding. We may also charge listed and unlisted law firms and lawyers an affordable fee for limited banner advertising or publishing of enhanced profiles next to the listings.

For any question or feedback on any list or listing, feel free to contact THE LAWYER AFRICA PUBLISHER at info[at]thelawyer[dot]africa.

Continue Reading

News & Analysis

The Roles of the Three Parts of the Permanent Court of Arbitration

Published

on

By

H.E. Amb. Marcin Czepelak, the Fourteenth Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)

Continue Reading

News & Analysis

Brief History of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)

Published

on

By

By Dr. Kariuki Muigua, PhD, C.Arb, Current Member of Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Representing the Republic of Kenya.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a 124 Years Old Intergovernmental Organization currently with 122 contracting states. It was established at the turn of 20th Century during the first Hague Peace Conference held between 18th May and 29th July 1899. The conference was an initiative of then Russian Czar Nicholas II to discuss peace and disarmament and specifically with the object of “seeking the most effective means of ensuring to all peoples the benefits of a real and lasting peace, and, above all, of limiting the progressive development of existing armaments.” The culmination of the conference was the adoption of a Convention on the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, which dealt not only with arbitration but also with other methods of pacific settlement, such as good offices and mediation.

The aim of the conference was to “strengthen systems of international dispute resolution” especially international arbitration which in the last century had proven effective for the purpose with number of successful international arbitrations being concluded among Nations. The Alabama arbitration of 1871-1872 between the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) under the Treaty of Washington of 1871 culminating in the arbitral tribunal’s award that the UK pay the US compensation for breach of neutrality during American Civil War which it did had demonstrated the effectiveness of arbitration in settling of international disputes and piqued interest of many practitioners in it as a mode of dispute resolution during the latter years of the nineteenth century.

The Institut de Droit International adopted a code of procedure for arbitration in 1875 to answer the need for a general law of arbitration governing for countries and parties wishing to have recourse to international arbitration. The growth of arbitration as a mode of international dispute resolution formed the background of the 1899 conference and informed its most enduring achievement, namely, the establishment of the PCA as the first global mechanism for the settlement of disputes between states. Article 16 of the 1899 Convention recognized that “in questions of a legal nature, and especially in the interpretation or application of International Conventions” arbitration is the “most effective, and at the same time the most equitable, means of settling disputes which diplomacy has failed to settle.”

In turn, the 1899 Convention provided for the creation of permanent machinery to enable the setting up of arbitral tribunals as necessary and to facilitate their work under the auspices of the institution it named as the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). In particular, Article 20 of the 1899 Convention stated that “[w]ith the object of facilitating an immediate recourse to arbitration for international differences which it has not been possible to settle by diplomacy, the signatory Powers undertake to organize a Permanent Court of Arbitration, accessible at all times and operating, unless otherwise stipulated by the parties, in accordance with the rules of procedure inserted in the present Convention.” In effect, the Convention set up a permanent system of international arbitration and institutionalized the law and practice of arbitration in a definite and acceptable way.

As a result, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) was established in 1900 and began operating in 1902. The PCA as established consisted of a panel of jurists designated by each country acceding to the Convention with each country being entitled to designate up to four from among whom the members of each arbitral tribunal might be chosen. In addition, the Convention created a permanent Bureau, located in The Hague, with functions similar to those of a court registry or secretariat. The 1899 Convention also laid down a set of rules of procedure to govern the conduct of arbitrations under the PCA framework.

The second Hague Peace Conference in 1907 saw a revision of the 1899 Convention and improvement of the rules governing arbitral proceedings. Today, the PCA has developed into a modern, multi-faceted arbitral institution perfectly situated to meet the evolving dispute resolution needs of the international community. The Permanent Court of Arbitration has also diversified its service offering alongside those contemplated by the Conventions. For instance, today the International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration serves as a registry in important international arbitrations. In 1993, the Permanent Court of Arbitration adopted new “Optional Rules for Arbitrating Disputes between Two Parties of Which Only One Is a State” and, in 2001, “Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Natural Resources and/or the Environment”.

Reference

PCA Website: https://pca-cpa.org/en/about/introduction/history/ (accessed on 25th May 2023).

Continue Reading

Trending