Jonathan Brasnett, MAAPPS // Feb 9, 2015
The Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) has been implemented in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania since 2007 when it became a candidate country. It was officially named an EITI compliant country in 2012 and, despite a brief suspension in 2013 for failing to provide its 2010 report on time, it remains a compliant state today. What impact has this had on the mining industries of Mauritania? Furthermore, what impact has this initiative had on civil society and the government provision of social services to its citizens? These are the most important questions, but those that are most difficult to answer without flying to Nouakchott and seeing for ourselves.
Mauritania is a semi-presidential republic under the leadership of President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who first took power in the summer of 2008 through a military coup d’état. Although he was democratically elected in the summer of 2009 and is meant to work hand-in-hand with the Mauritanian government (Senate, National Assembly and Supreme Courts), the country is nevertheless ranked 172nd out of 187 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index, as well as ranked 124th out of 175 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Therefore, the democratic nature of the country’s governance can legitimately be questioned. Furthermore, many social problems persist: unemployment, though much reduced in recent years, is still high (10.1% in 2012), per capita GDP is still among the lowest in the world ($1,224) and slavery still exists in large numbers (10-20% of the population).
A country that is still rife with problems is most definitely in need of greater transparency and greater civil society participation. Thus, the EITI initiative is undoubtedly a beneficial endeavour for Mauritania. As a country whose mining and petroleum extraction industries make up more than one third of its GDP (38% in 2011), it is important that the revenue from these industries finds its way into the provision of social services, not the pockets of corrupt government officials. In observing the EITI reports of the eight years for which they have been issued in Mauritania, one notes the strange phenomenon of greater sums declared by the government than was paid by extraction companies. This occurred from 2005-2008, then this trend reversed from 2009-2012. With the exception of 2011 when the discrepancy between the money paid by extraction companies and that received by the government was more than $23 Million USD, all other years featured much smaller discrepancies of just a few million USD.
For the 2014-2015 reporting years, the National Committee of EITI (CNITIE) in Mauritania plans to initiate subnational reporting at the Walaya (regional) level. To do this, they intend to host workshops for local officials and civil society organizations, as well as establish the bureaucratic structure (likely EITI offices) in each Walaya for reporting at this level. Furthermore, the CNITIE intends to make greater efforts to involve civil society organizations more in the EITI implementation and ensure that they are informed of all changes made, and capable of acting on the reports issued by EITI offices, both regionally and nationally. It will be interesting to see what kinds of changes will be observed in the coming years in Mauritania with regards to its resource extraction industries and the transparency therein. For the citizens of Mauritania, I certainly hope that the wealth in revenue that comes for their country’s natural resources will be put to the provision of social services that can help increase their quality of life for years to come.