It is that time of the year...no, of every five years when we get to see and hear all kind of promises. Even though i live in this part of the country where most "progressed" people have named it with every sophisticated, names such as remote area, rural, peripheral of the rural, marginalized areas, etc, we get to pay few shillings to watch news on back and white TV. Because it is the time when politicians come to us and tell us all sort of lies on how they will help us upgrade our mining technology, how easily we will be accessing mining tools, how they will make available funds for women miners, how we will sell our gold and diamond and Tanzanite in China, America and London, how we will get to travel to those big cities, flashing out our gemstone and we will surely have someone buy all of them from us. What a lie!
It is that time when they actually, not only promise how they will "help" us, but also promise how the mining economy will change the country. They say that revenues from the mining will benefit our country. They have these numbers of shillings in their heads but when you ask them how will this translate into my life... the answer is remarkably stupid (sorry for the S bomb). As a woman miner, i do not only ask where does this money go, but i also ask how am i protected from billion effects of mining. I do not only ask how do i benefit from oil and gas extracted from my area, but i also ask how does this extraction affect me as a woman. These are kind of question we really need to ask at this time of the year.
Test for their political will from beginning, test for their integrity, test for their knowledge, test for their understanding. And more importantly, test how much they value women and understand women issues, how women and gender are priority, how will they go beyond numbers and put up lies which they can be easily get away with. This is that time when we can easily call all the shots and get away with it. Do not throw it away...
