ODEP recommends to the DRC’s Head of State to continue the process of recovery of disputed mining assets
The Public Expenditure Observatory (ODEP) and several civil society structures have made a good number of recommendations to the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo and to the central government, on the agreement signed between the DRC and the Ventora group of Dan Gertler.
It was during the work of the Round Table on the restitution of mining and oil assets by the Ventora Group of the Israeli economic operator Dan Gertler. Works which took place from April 13 to 14, 2022 under the leadership of the Presidency of the Republic at the Pullman Hotel in Kinshasa.
Even if these NGOs did not have access to the contract signed by the Government and the Ventora group, for so-called “confidentiality” reasons, they nevertheless sent recommendations to the President of the Republic:
1° The continuation of this process of recovering all assets from other mining, oil and forestry projects deemed unbalanced, including those cited in the Report of the UN Group of Experts (2002) and the case of Tenke Fungurume Mining , Banro, Sicomines, etc. ;
2° The development of clear Terms of Reference on the continuation and progress of the contract review and/or rebalancing process, before resorting to legal action;
3° The careful examination of suspected cases of sell-off such as AJN Resources/SOKIMO, Congo Resources, SAKIMA-DITHER, SICOMINES, CHEMAF, MMG, etc.
Vis-à-vis the central government, the NGO signatories of the declaration recommend:
1° The delivery to the Ministry of Mines of the assets recovered from the Ventora Group via the Mining Cadastre, and to the Ministry of Hydrocarbons for treatment in accordance with the law;
2° Compliance with the laws on public procurement procedures and on public-private partnership (PPP);
3° The setting up of a regulatory system for the remuneration of negotiators as is applicable for advisers in financial management, for inspectors of the General Inspectorate of Finance and at the international level (a predefined percentage by regulatory texts);
4° The establishment of an inclusive and plural Monitoring Committee, responsible in particular for:
– monitoring the execution of the Agreement signed between the Government and the Ventora Group;
– the effective establishment of the partnership between civil society and the Presidency of the Republic;
– to ensure ongoing reflection on improving the governance of the natural resources sector, in particular the recovery of other assets, the revision of unbalanced contracts.
Note that among the signatory structures, there is, among others, the Congolese Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ), Touche pas à mon cobalt, ODEP and several others.
