A Call to Revoke 20% Allocation to FOMIN Operating Expenses by the Afrewatch Consortium
The Consortium Makuta ya Maendeleo and AFREWATCH strongly recommend that the Minister of Mines revoke her Order No. 00884/CAB.MIN/MINES/01/2022 of February 8, 2022 for non-compliance with Law No. 08/0009 of July 7, 2008 on general provisions applicable to public institutions.
The Consortium Makuta and AFREWATCH have become aware of the aforementioned Order determining the percentage of FOMIN resources to be allocated to its operation and organs. Both organizations note that the Order was signed in violation of Article 23 of Law No. 08/009 of July 7, 2008 on general provisions applicable to public institutions. The basic principle set forth by this legal provision is that funds dedicated to the operation of a public institution, such as FOMIN, must be defined in the budget (revenue and expenditure estimates) determined by the Board of Directors on an annual basis, without any predetermined percentage of operating expenses. The Consortium Makuta and AFREWATCH are surprised that the Minister of Mines arbitrarily allocates 20% of the recovered resources to the operating expenses of FOMIN, which amounts to an average of USD 10 million per year, according to estimates of mining production and ITIE-RDC reports for the last five years (2018-2022). For the Consortium Makuta and AFREWATCH, nothing can justify the allocation of such an amount to the operating expenses and organs of FOMIN, a fund dedicated to future generations in a country where almost 64% of the population lives in extreme poverty.
Likewise, Article 7, paragraph 5 of Decree No. 23/05 of February 20, 2023, concerning Decree No. 19/17 of November 25, 2019, on the operation of FOMIN, which irregularly conferred on the Minister of Mines the power to determine the percentage of resources to be allocated to operation, must be withdrawn because it is contrary to the provisions of Law No. 08/009 of July 7, 2008 on general provisions applicable to public institutions.
The Consortium Makuta and AFREWATCH recall that during the workshops facilitated by the Technical Secretariat of ITIE-RDC between October 2021 and November 2022 on the elaboration and validation of proposed amendments to Decree No. 19/17 of November 25, 2019, concerning the operation of FOMIN, stakeholders agreed consensually and in compliance with the aforementioned law that the operating expenses of FOMIN should be determined by the Board of Directors for each accounting year, based on the needs identified by the management.
The arbitrary determination of 20% of the recovered resources for the operation of FOMIN is likely to favor the diversion of a significant portion of FOMIN’s revenues, whose primary purpose is to ensure intergenerational equity in the use of a portion of the mining sector’s revenues.
In light of the above, the Consortium Makuta ya Maendeleo and AFREWATCH invite the Minister of Mines to revoke Order No. 00884/CAB.MIN/MINES/01/2022 to allow the Board of Directors of FOMIN to fulfill its legal mission of determining the operating expenses of this public institution in the overall annual budget, based on the needs identified by management. Both organizations also urge the Prime Minister to withdraw paragraph 5 of Article 7 of Decree No. 23/05 of February 20, 2023, and to ensure that the Manual of administrative, financial, and accounting procedures of FOMIN currently under development establishes robust and clear rules for the allocation of funds, with a focus on investments and projects that have an impact on future generations
