President Kikwete signs oil, gas bills into law

Dar es Salaam. President Jakaya Kikwete has assented to five bills, including three energy-related legislations that were fiercely opposed in Parliament.

The Petroleum Bill, Tanzania Extractive Industry (Transparency and Accountability) Bill and the Oil and Gas Revenue Management Bill, all of 2015, were rejected by the Opposition after the government submitted them for debate under a certificate of urgency.

Opposition lawmakers later walked out of Parliament and left Dodoma when their attempts to scuttle the bills failed.

In a brief ceremony at State House yesterday, President Kikwete signed the bills in a move Chief Secretary Ombeni Sefue said would ensure stability in the extractive industry.

The other two bills assented to were the Teachers Service Commission and the Commodity Exchange, which seek to establish a teachers’ body and the commodity exchange market respectively. President Kikwete did not speak at the function.

“These are very important legislations to farmers, teachers as well as the fast growing extractive industry especially the oil and gas sector. These laws seek to address challenges faced by teachers, farmers and seek to position Tanzania on a strong institutional, legal and regulatory platform for oil and gas economy for the benefit of present and future generations,” said Mr Sefue. The Petroleum Act seeks to establish the Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (Pura) and designating Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) as the National Oil Company which will participate fully from the petroleum exploration to production.