Over 350 stakeholders of the oil and gas sub-sector in the country convened in Mtwara Region to provide comments on the draft Petroleum (Corporate Social Responsibility) Guidelines prepared as per the requirement of the Petroleum Act, 2015.

The stakeholders met on February 29, 2024, at the Mtwara Teachers College in a meeting officiated by the Mtwara Regional Commissioner, Hon. Colonel Ahmed Abbas Ahmed.

Stakeholder group categories in attendance at the meeting were representatives from councils where petroleum operations are undertaken, Government officials from various ministries and institutions, and representatives from companies engaged in petroleum operations in the country.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Col. Ahmed said the step taken to draft corporate social responsibility guidelines worth commendation and that the guidelines are expected to address the long-time grievance from several stakeholders that, more often than not, companies have been implementing CSR projects without taking into consideration host communities’ priority needs.

"There have been complaints that companies do not implement CSR according to communities’ needs, the reason why the Government saw a need to prepare the guidelines to address the issue and enable effective implementation of CSR projects.’' said Col. Ahmed.

Briefing on the origin of the guidelines, Mr. Charles Nyangi who represented the Director General of the Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (PURA) at the event, said that the requirement to prepare the guidelines has been mentioned under Section 222 of the Petroleum Act, 2015.

The Section has given local government authorities a mandate to prepare the corporate social responsibility guidelines, guidelines that will be used by oil and gas companies when implementing CSR projects.

Mr. Charles pointed out that, following such legal requirement, PURA, as the regulator of petroleum upstream operations in the country, deemed it necessary to meet with the leadership of the Council where petroleum exploration and production activities are undertaken to discuss about preparation of the guidelines.

In that meeting, stakeholders provided their comments both orally and in writing. They also agreed to extend the time for providing comments for fourteen (14) working days as this will enable them to have adequate time to adequately review the guidelines and come up with more comments.

The discussed draft guidelines comprise of pertinent issues including the preparation of the Corporate Social Responsibility Plan; areas to consider during the preparation of the Plan; time for submission, evaluation, and approval of the Plan; and the Plan's implementation strategy.