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Certification Scheme (KPCS) secretariat is chaired by Ms Clare Short, a controversial former British minister whose reckless utterances on Zimbabwe’s land question triggered the agrarian revolution 15 years ago, it emerged yesterday.
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), one of three organisations that were controversially short-listed by the United States to provide secretariat services to the KPCS, is vying to run the diamond watchdog. African and Asian members have shot down attempts by the US to outsource the KPCS secretariat to the three think-tanks that have close links with Western governments.
EITI’s audacious bid to control the KPCS has met fierce resistance from the Zimbabwe delegation to the 9th inter-sessional meeting here. On November 5 1997, Ms Short, who was British secretary for International
Development in Premier Tony Blair’s cabinet, wrote an infamous letter to the then Minister of Lands and Agriculture Cde Kumbirai Kangai, which played a central role in triggering the fast-track land redistribution revolution.
Zimbabwe has been joined by the United Arab Emirates and most members of the African Diamond Producers’ Association in opposing the outsourcing of the KPCS secretariat.
In the letter, she stated that “we do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe.”
She added: “We are a new government from diverse backgrounds, without links to former colonial interests. My own origins are Irish and as you know, we were colonised, not colonisers.”
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Ms Short’s letter caused a wide rift with the Zimbabwean Government, which argued that the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979 enjoined the British government to assist in land reform.
The latest attempts by Ms Short to take control of the KPCS secretariat are viewed with suspicion by Zimbabwe’s delegation here.
“There’s mischief in the air. Clare Short did terrible things to Zimbabwe, together with her boss Tony Blair. It was her foolish letter in 1997, which pushed every one to the edge,” said a member of the Zimbabwean delegation.
“As a result of that letter, Zimbabwe’s relations with Britain got ruined and attitudes have been strained ever since.
“Why should we allow her to bounce back and ruin our diamond sector in the same manner she behaved recklessly over our land question?” added the member of Zimbabwe’s delegation.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu said although Zimbabwe supported the idea of establishing a secretariat for the KPCS, the nation was totally opposed to the outsourcing of the full-time office to organisations whose values may not necessarily tally with those of diamond-producing countries.
Ms Short’s EITI says its purpose is “to promote an international transparency standard for accountability in the oil, gas and mining industries”.
A diamond expert said if EITI was awarded the contract to run the KPCS secretariat, diamond producers would be required to introduce a mechanism for the disclosure and reconciliation of all government revenues from the mining sector, allowing anyone to see the mineral production figures and receipts.
Members of the KPCS would also be expected to reveal all their mining-related financial transactions.
“In Zimbabwe’s case, such total disclosure of transactions and production numbers could cause some discomfort, because the country is under Western sanctions.
“Remember, money belonging to Zimbabwe’s diamond firms has been frozen in foreign bank accounts by the United States,” explained the expert.
EITI dates back to 2002 when Mr Blair put the idea forward at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
The organisation was launched the following year but some developing nations have complained that it dances to the tune of the World Bank and Western governments while doing nothing to demand social justice for the downtrodden.
Online Reporter