New dawn as government, miners reach deal over Mubende gold fields

“Surprise attacks” is really a tactic used in wars of attrition.
Throughout history, there have been countless of them — from the earliest accounts in Greek mythology to the present day wars — and they have toppled societies and shaken civilization. The element of surprise can be a very potent change agent and a powerful weapon too. This is how government dealt a blow to some 50,000 or so artisanal-small scale miners (ASMs) in Kitumbi and Bukuya sub-counties in Mubende District on August 4 last year.
On that day, a coterie of heavily-armed police, military police, and the army surrounded the two areas and ordered everyone operating or living within boundaries of the gold mining fields to vacate within two hours. They were said to be there “illegally.”
Col Balikuddembe Lutaaya, commander of UPDF’s 1st Division, led the eviction.

“They (Artisanal Miners) are thieves,” Ms Gertrude Njuba, one of the directors of AUC Ltd, the company that lays claim to the most lucrative gold mining area, said.
Ms Njuba, a heroine of the 1986 guerilla war that brought President Museveni to power more than 30 years ago, told Daily Monitor during an interview at her offices at State House’s Land office on Lumumba Avenue that she acquired the area in 1986 without the slightest knowledge at the time of what lay beneath.
“The owner of clothes knows to put what and when on. They (ASMs) came from nowhere and occupied the land: they have really cost us a lot,” Ms Njuba said.

According to records from the Directorate of Geological Surveys and Mines (DGSM), the Ministry of Energy’s technical arm in-charge of minerals, the company first acquired a location licence for the area measuring about 207 sq.km in 1987, and subsequently a mining lease for the area in 1994.
A location licence, according to section 54 (2) of the Mining Act, 2003, is a licence for prospecting and mining operations by methods, which do not involve substantial expenditure and the use of specialised technology.

Ms Njuba revealed that her company has not undertaken any visible mining operations over the last three decades. She said they have spent close to $16m (Shs57b) on various activities such as geological studies, and at least Shs100m in taxes.

“All that has gone to waste now,” she said, adding: “When the artisanal miners encroached on our mining area, they became a stumbling block. It was hard for us to work and this discouraged investors.”

She said the artisanal miners “always worked with people” in the ministry of Energy and “precisely knew the exact spots where gold is concentrated and have done some good damage in the period they were on the ground.”
The decision to evict the Artisanal Miners followed a meeting convened by President Museveni at State House Entebbe on June 13, 2017. During the meeting attended by security chiefs and a host of government officials, the directors of AUC mining company Ltd that lays claim to the area indicated that artisanal miners had blighted their operations.
They asked government to renew their area licence for at least five years after the artisanal miners were expelled.
In the days that followed, earth movers were brought in to level the entire expanse and whatever stood on it, including huge gashes in the earth or pits from which men, women and sometimes children toiled aggressively looking for gold.

By end of the month that year, the area that once teemed with all sorts of activities—from mining, bars, restaurants, prostitution turned into a pile of debris.
Machines, tattered tarpaulins, timber littered the area. The area was sealed off by police’s mineral unit as well as an army unit. Nearby town centres ground to halt: the little hope of prosperity now shimmered like a mirage.

The two areas, according to multiple accounts, were home to not less than 50,000 Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners
There is no single agreed definition of Artisanal and Small-scale Miners although common references associate their activities with low levels of production, poorly skilled labour, poor technology, small claims, subsistence and illegality.
In defence of the evictions, government claimed that the gold mining operations had been infiltrated by foreigners who “exploited loopholes in the system” to profiteer from the lucrative trade.

Last year, the Energy ministry claimed that it had given three location licenses to more than 500 artisanal miners in Mubende and Kassanda to resume mining but in areas far from AUC’s location area. This was after artisanal miners had granted several concessions including forming organised groups.
One group, Kayonza-Kitumbi Miners Association, was awarded the license covering an estimated area of 32 acres in Bukuya parish in Kassanda District.

Other groups were awarded location licenses in Madudu and Kalwana sub-counties in Mubende District.
However, some Artisanal miners rejected this location on grounds that it was depleted of minerals.
A month later, shortly after the evictions, with the ambivalent artisanal miners factions in disarray and as others mooted legal action against government, a hitherto unknown Federation of artisanal and small scale miners with 13 directors including Ms Njuba’s daughter, Stella Njuba, as its head, was registered.

The federation, better organised and comprising of land and bibanja owners (tenants) in the surrounding areas in Mubende started advancing discussions with government.
“I got some young people who organised themselves into a federation,” Ms Njuba said.
On April 6, President Museveni wrote to the Energy minister, Ms Irene Muloni, instructing her to renew AUC’s exploration licence and split it into two: 70 per cent for the company, and 30 per cent for the federation.

“I am informed that this federation was formed by those immediately expelled from AUC’s exploration license area last year and they include land and bibanja owners in the area,” Mr Museveni wrote.
Meanwhile, the ministry of Energy was also in talks with some artisanal mining groups, which had earlier rejected the location licenses and wanted new location with better prospects.

Demands from groups
At one meeting held in March, some ASM groups demanded that government provides proof of mineralisation in the proposed area of relocation.
During subsequent discussions and consultations, including with area MPs, several groups registered and started claiming part of the 30 per cent.
In one correspondence dated May 23, the acting head of the Department of Geological Survey and Mines, Mr Zachary Baguma wrote: “It emerged that the affected miners and land owners were cooperated into several competing associations.”

The main two were the federation of artisanal and small-scale miners association and Mubende United Miners Assembly (Muma).
According to correspondences seen by this newspaper, the federation was opposed to Muma being allocated any share of the 30 per cent on grounds that it was not mentioned in the presidential directive.
Muma petitioned the justice ministry in June, and on June 28 minister Kahinda Otafiire wrote to the Energy Minister, Muloni warning of “a clear and deliberate attempt to misapply the directive’s purpose and intention.”

“This maybe to deprive more than 20,000 people, represented by a collection of over 20 associations under Muma of their property and infringe on their rights,” Maj Gen Otafiire wrote.
“This is unacceptable under the law and is bound to lead to protracted litigation,” he added.

Resolving the issue
The impasse over sharing of the 30 per cent was only resolved last month.
The Energy ministry permanent secretary, Mr Robert Kasande, said after going back to the drawing board, it was agreed that Muma will take 10 per cent (of the 30 per cent) measuring about 10 square kilometres for which they we will give them expertise to assess potentiality and mineralisation of the area.

Reorganising the mining sector
“In going back to the drawing board we must recognise that we are now reorganising the mining sector so it is not going to be business as usual,” Mr Kasande said, adding: “Not all artisanal and small scale mining is about scratching on the surface. It also means minimal interruption with activities of other people.”

By re-organising the mining sector, which Mr Kasande said started with approval of the new mining policy by Cabinet in May this year, “means ASMs will have to act more responsibly: they will have to register their associations and members and clear financial obligations such as taxes.”
“We are going to enforce a lot more this time around to ensure there is order. What we have done Mubende will very soon be applied to other gold mining areas like Karamoja, Nayayingo, and Buhweju, after we have built our capacity,” he said, adding: “We are also working on a new mining law because we want start getting value out of mining.”
One of the key aspects of the new mining policy is recognising ASMs. The policy, which is meant to guide development of Uganda’s minerals and regulate mining sub-sector, was passed in May after almost five years of back and forth reviews.

According to the policy, government acknowledges participation of Ugandans in small-scale mining and remains committed to the promotion and the formal development of ASMs.
“The government will investigate and take measures to support orderly operations of artisanal and small-scale mining to allow legally supported operations in areas where large-scale mining is not warranted,” the policy reads in part.

The recognition of artisanal miners, once they have organised themselves in formal groups and applied for licences, is part of the International Conference on Great Lakes (ICGLR) Declaration, which was adopted by Heads of State of the regional grouping in December 2010 to, among others, break the link between armed conflict and revenue from minerals that include tin, tungsten, tantalite and gold, thus provide a system for tracking the chain of custody for these minerals which will consequentially safeguard the mineral revenues of processing, exporting and importing states of the Great Lakes Region.

Signing the agreement
Muma’s president John Bosco Bukya told Daily Monitor that all differences with the federation, which they previously taunted as a “briefcase company”, have been ironed out and the ministry ensured that a drafting agreement between the two warring parties is signed.
“The ministry gazzetted 30 per cent or 625 square kilometres of which we have 18 square kilometres and the federation 42 square kilometers,” Mr Bukya said. “Our objective now is to ensure that every group in our association has its own location license and exploration license.”
Each of the 21 groups in the association with total membership of about 40,000 members, Mr Bukya will be allocated 1 square kilometer as a starting point to allow early mining works to resume mid-December.