Harry Li, MAAPPS // Feb 21, 2015
Upon independence in 1960, ROC experimented with Marxism until 1990 and the democratically elected government took office in 1992.
The ROC is one of the countries in the Congo Basin where the abundance of natural resources has proved to be more of a curse than a blessing. Oil and minerals have not brought prosperity for all, instead, most people live below the poverty line in isolated rural areas and depend on forests for their livelihoods.
ROC EITI President, Mr. Okoko, said that Congo’s economy is highly dependent on the oil sector, accounting for 93% of total extractive exports. Overall, the extractive industries account for 76% of national GDP. Mr.Okoko says that the ROC Extractive industries represented on average 85% of state revenue and regulatory provisions do not allow extractive companies to send payments to anyone but the national Treasury. Thus currently, there is lack of sub-national reporting in the extractive industries. In addition, EITI Vice President, Mr. Mounzeo noted that it is true that some civil societies have been pressuring the government decentralization and transparency in the extractive industries, therefore law reform addressing these issues is expected to be drafted in the near future.
Lack of transparency and governmental corruption have always been problematic issues for ROC. According to the constitution, political and civil society organizations can form freely. However, the political system is shaped in favor of those organizations close to the regime. Thus most civil societies advocate for issues with low political profile. However. The Observatoire congolais des droits de l’Homme (OCDH) and Transparency International have been particularly active in pushing for transparency and sub-national reporting in the ROC extractive industries.
Mr. Mounzeo argues that although there are lack of sub-national reporting, alternative initiatives have been developed. In the past three years, the civil society organizations such as RPDH (Rencontre Pour la Paix et les Droits de l’Homme) and the PWYP(Pay What You Say) started monitoring public investment in access to water, electricity, health, education and food. Although these are examples of civil society’s engaging in low political profile issues, they still set as an important precedent and a driving force for the push for sub-national reporting in the future on extractive industries.
In comparison to the mining industry in Mongolia, there are many comparable similarities with ROC. Both countries suffer from a substantive amount of corruption , both experimented with communist ideologies, both have very limited or no sub-national reporting and both countries are committed to reform laws that will increase transparency, decrease corruption and initiate sub-national reporting.
Transparency International reported on Mongolia that the “Key issues in legal framework is still corruption.” There has been some progress in developing the legal anti-corruption framework, but the legislative framework is still largely deficient. Legal framework battle corruption improved dramatically when parliament passed in Jan 2012 the Law on Regulating Public and Private Interests in Public Services and Preventing Conflicts of Interest. Officeholders are required to declare their assets each year. There are controversies surrounding the arrest of former president due to corruption charge. Like China, The current president, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, has openly endorsed the fight against corruption and made it its main priorities.
Like ROC, the Mongolian civil society participation is still weak. Even though civil rights are largely guaranteed in Mongolia, violations still occur. From the cruel and inhumane treatment of people in custody to discrimination of sexual minorities, these persistent violations call for more effective system in protecting civil rights. Civil society is weakened by corruption and weak management within NGOs. Funding from domestic or international donors is often difficult to trace while staff are underpaid.
However, Mongolia is introducing reform in laws to improve the situation. The Fiscal Stability Law (FSL) went fully into effect in January 2013 and has improved the fiscal discipline by enhancing transparency and accountability in government spending.
My colleague in the project, Stephanie Zimmerling, has done a great investigation on the sub-national reporting in Peru. Peru is one of the only a few countries international that are reporting at the sub-national level. The integration of the sub-national reporting scheme was effective and adopted in the Cajamarca region of Peru. Given the decentralized nature of Peru’s political environment it is anticipated that other regions will be able to successfully adopt sub-national reporting.
As seen in the case of ROC, Mongolia and Peru, governmental reform in laws on extractive transparency, anti-corruption, civil society engagement, and decentralization are the key to promoting sub-national reporting.