Radio Erena: 03 March 2015
The Eritrean National Mining Corporation is said to be non-transparent and unaccountable in its projects, reported an employee of the corporation.
The employee, who wanted to remain anonymous, is a former Geology student at the now closed University of Asmara. He pointed out the corporation functions under the country’s Ministry of Mines though its relationship with the ministry remains to only be technical. The corporation, however, reports directly to the office of the president, especially, in regards to its revenues and profits, he added.
The employee further noted that the government-chartered mining corporation owns 45-55 per cent of shares in most of the 17 international mining companies investing in Eritrea though it operates without declaring its capital, its revenues, and profits to its investors.
The international mining companies, on the contrary, do present their monthly financial reports to the government of Eritrea and that the government is not happy with this reporting tradition criticizing it as misleading to the general public.
This comes to show, the employee highlighted, that the government’s unaccountability and mishandling of the resources of the country, which denies the people their right to the resources.
The Eritrean government is known to have many inexplicable trading and construction businesses that operate under the ruling PFDJ party and the mining corporation is not different than those institutions except that its secrecy is kept within few selected individuals.
According to the young Eritrean, the employees of the national mining corporation make twice the average government salary and this is the same with all PFDJ-owned companies.
He indicated the recent news regarding the secret Eritrean accounts at the HSBC bank in Switzerland exposes the unorthodoxy of the government of Eritrea.
Note on the Picture:- The Eritrean official signing the deal on the photo is the former Minister of Mines – Mr. Ahmed Haj Ali, who has been in jail since in 2013 in connection with the mutiny [popularly known as the Forto Operation] that took place in January of 2013.
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