Africa-Press – Uganda. Authorities in Luweero District have asked the security committee to ban movement of sand trucks at night.
According to the leaders, the trucks are being used in smuggling stolen animals.
“The animals are allegedly slaughtered and the meat loaded on the trucks disguised as sand,” Mr Patrick Sonko Kisekwa, a district councillor representing Makulubita, said in an interview last week.
“The truck drivers take advantage of the night to go through the non-manned check points. It is important that the truck transporters are investigated,” Mr Abdul Kalemera, a district councillor representing Nyimbwa Sub-county, said.
The leaders also said the trucks are loaded beyond the permitted axle load limits thus, damaging roads.
Mr Ronald Ndawula, the outgoing Luweero District chairperson, said more than 65 per cent of the district feeder roads are in bad shape .
“We have petitions from affected residents that claim that the overloaded trucks have damaged the road culverts yet the money charged as taxes from each of the trucks is not enough to repair the roads,” he said .
In 2015, Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) issued guidelines to all truck drivers carrying sand to cover it with tarpaulins because wet sand destroys roads.
The trucks must also register with Unra and must be assessed at weighbridge stations on different highways before and after loading sand.
However, very few sand truck drivers follow these guidelines.
In Zirobwe Sub-county, the chairperson, Mr Pascali Imarachi, said since sand mining is spread across all sub-counties, it is difficult to have the police checks everywhere.
“The allegations that some of the sand transporters could be working with criminals in transporting the stolen animals is not new. We call upon the district leaders to act immediately,” Mr Imarachi said in an interview.
But Mr Frederick Ssemanda, the chairperson of Tukolerere Wamu Sand Transporters Association based in Katikamu Sub-county, dismissed the allegations, saying his members are not involved in criminal acts.
“We only have a few transporters that work at night. It is also true that some trucks overload but we have been made to pay the taxes,” Mr Ssemanda said.
Mr Issa Ssemogerere, the Savannah Regional Police spokesperson, said they are going to work with district officials to ensure that the trucks are checked.
“It is the duty of the local governments to institute measures aimed at protecting the road infrastructure. Many of the feeder roads have no police checkpoints. It is also true that we have continued to register cases of missing animals by residents from the different areas,” Mr Ssemogerere said.
