At the end of the three days exercise guided by facilitators from Ghana and drawing from the experiences of other West African States, the following concerns are been raised for the attention and action by government in order to reduce poverty, promote ownership, participation and good governance:

 1. That the key players in driving the Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) process engage partners and the National Advocacy Coalition on Extractives. NACE is appealing to Department for International Development, European Union and World Bank to provide leadership in taking the EITI forward.

 2. The EITI is about reducing poverty and promoting sustainable development therefore the Mines and Mineral Resources Ministry needs to be strongly on board the EITI. This is borne out of the fact that operations within the portfolio of this Ministry have direct impact on creating poverty and generating income.

 3. NACE urges the government to go beyond the signatory point and launch the EITI process including putting modalities in place for its effective implementation.

 4. We further urge government through Mines and Minerals Resource Minister to establish an inclusive National Committee on the EITI comprising all key stakeholders such as NACE, the Media, Community people, traditional leaders, representatives of Local Councils, etc.

 5. The National Advocacy Coalition on Extractives is concerned about the recent development within the mining sector in Sierra Leone where government is relinquishing its shares in mining companies noting how strategic our natural resources are to our development. We draw government’s attention to the 2005 UNCTAD report which among other things observed “ ..that focus on attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) may be a poor guide to development policy and in some circumstances may actually distort long term growth potential. If Africa is to benefit from the natural resource abundance and reverse premature deindustrialization a more balanced policy approach will be required.” Therefore we call for a look at other successful models in Africa that guarantees development.

 6. We urge the government to domesticate the EITI as a way of legitimizing the process as had been done with the Kimberly Process and the PRSP to name a few important national programs. This will be a strong signal to the people of Sierra Leone and the international community that the government of Sierra Leone is serious and committed to the process which, can be link to other initiatives like the Anti Corruption drive.

 7. NACE is committed to working with government and other partners on the EITI particularly and the extractive sector in general. NACE is therefore prepared to assist government in developing the appropriate template for annual social audits and monitoring activities and companies in the extractive Sector.

October 22, 2005