Mercury trade in Busia  gets mixed bag of fortune

It is 3pm on a Saturday at the Sofia porous border in Busia Town when a woman carrying a black bag arrives from Kenya and quickly blends into the crowd that is crossing into Uganda.
The lady, whom we shall not name, gains the trust of this reporter who masquerades as having been sent to purchase large quantities of mercury for use in one of the gold mines.
Though suspicious, she opens the bag and inside it are six bottles with a liquid that could easily pass for water. But the bottles contain banned mercury, which she says she has been smuggling for quite a while.

The lady explains that she takes advantage of the porous borders and thin security presence at the border to smuggle mercury from Kenya into Uganda without being noticed.
“I always take advantage of the porous borders to beat security and bring this chemical, which I disguise as water from Kenya and later to Kampala where I have ready market,” she says.
She adds that she has undertaken the business with her husband for the past five years and can supply quantities of mercury worth Shs20m in Kampala before it is distributed to various parts of the country, mostly to artisan gold miners.
Such acts are not only illegal but also pose a challenge to the implementation of global treaties, including the Minamata Convention.

Adopted in 2013 by more than 140 countries, the convention was signed in the Japanese city of Minamata to address specific human activities contributing towards the widespread global mercury pollution.

This was after industrial wastewater from a chemical factory containing methylmercury was discharged into the Minamata Bay where it accumulated in fish and shellfish, causing severe sickness and death of hundreds of people and animals, including cats that consumed the seafood.

High demand
Mr Paul Agesu, the chairperson of Tira Landlords and Artisanal Miners Association, a group involved in mining of gold in Tira Town Council, Busia District, says mercury is brought in by “dealers” who sell it to the artisan miners to use in the extraction of gold.
He further reveals that one kilogramme of mercury is sold to artisan miners at between Shs800,000 and Shs1m.
 “We use mercury for the extraction of gold from the gold amalgam, which is why it’s highly demanded among small scale artisan gold miners,” Mr Agesu explains.

Mr Geoffrey Kamese, the chief executive officer of the Uganda National Association of Community and Occupational Health (UNACOH), which is promoting mercury-free mining, says despite Uganda being a signatory to the global ban on the use of mercury, the law has not been implemented.
Mr Kamese adds that artisan miners continue to use mercury in the process of extracting gold in the various mining areas of Namayingo, Busia, Mubende, Amudat and Buhweju, which puts their lives at risks and pollutes the environment.

According to him, there is a need by the government to make interventions towards reduction in the use of mercury because of a likelihood of pollution of water sources.
But in the meantime, Mr Kamese says they have embarked on training miners on the use of borax and not mercury because the former is safe and ensures miners get pure gold within a short period of time.

“We have been to Amudat, Busia, Namayingo, Mubende and Buhweju, training artisan miners about the dangers of mercury and encouraging them to use borax, which is less harmful to people’s lives and the environment,” he says.

Mr Idi Bakali, a miner at Budde gold mines in Namayingo District, says whereas he has been notified about the dangers of mercury, he continues to use the metal because he has not seen any person falling sick within the community due to exposure to it.
Ms Naomi Karekaho, the National Environment Management Authority spokesperson, told Daily Monitor in a telephone interview early this week that whereas they are aware of the international conventions on the ban of mercury, the country had not enacted a law that bans its use.

“We cannot just wake up as an organisation and say we are stopping the use of mercury in the country; we need an enabling law put in place that directs how the ban will be implemented and the penalties for the offenders, otherwise as of now, we cannot do much,” she said.
Ms Agnes Alaba, the acting director of geological surveys and mining development in the ministry of Energy, said the Mineral and Mining Bill that will soon be before Parliament seeks to address the challenges of the use of mercury by artisan miners.

“As a ministry we are aware of the health and environment risk mercury poses to the community and have drafted a Bill that will soon be in Parliament to address such challenges,” Ms Alaba said in an interview.
Ms Alaba added that the Bill, once passed, will allow the ministry to register and give all artisan miners identity cards with microchips that will allow the officials to monitor them and their movement remotely.

A source within the mineral police said they have tried to regulate the use of mercury by artisan miners but the porous borders were making it difficult because some unscrupulous miners smuggling it into the country.
The sources called for a multi sectoral approach to have borders fully policed, miners sensitised, and culprits arrested and prosecuted.

Government efforts. 
“As a ministry, we are aware of the health and environmental risks mercury poses to the community and we have drafted a Bill that will soon be in Parliament to address such challenges,” Agnes Alaba, acting director of geological surveys and mining development in the ministry of Energy

the key concern
According to the World Health Organisation, exposure to mercury is the biggest cause of health hazards facing artisanal gold miners. The report further outlines that exposure to mercury can be passed from a mother to her unborn child.
While National Environment Management Regulations, 1999, recognise the harmful effects of mercury and its associated compound, mercury oxide is imported to the country unregulated.