{"id":16829,"date":"2021-08-31T17:13:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T17:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=16829"},"modified":"2021-08-31T14:30:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T14:30:10","slug":"govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site","title":{"rendered":"Govt gives 30,000 miners two months to vacate Kasiita site"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>More than 30,000 artisanal gold miners at Kisiita gold mining site in Kassanda District are pondering their next move after government gave them up to November to voluntarily vacate the site or face forceful eviction.<\/p>\n

Artisanal mining involves the use of rudimentary tools such as hoes, spades, shovels, and axes.<\/p>\n

Mr Peter Lokeris, the State Minister of Mineral Development, yesterday said the planned eviction is aimed at organising and streamlining the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is being done is in line with what the President directed the ministry to do. All artisanal and illegal miners are being sensitised and given opportunity to voluntarily vacate the area to avoid further depletion of the sector ,\u201d Mr Lokeris said.<\/p>\n

He said the miners had earlier been sensitised about the voluntary vacation, but failed to comply, forcing President Museveni to issue another directive in May.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Rahim Mukasa Kayondo, the chairperson of Kitumbi Small Scale and Artisanal Miner\u2019s Association, opposed the move, saying they are shareholders in the company that was legally licensed to carry out gold mining in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [government] cannot say that we are illegal, we are stakeholders of Kisiita Mining Company though it had managerial issues which are being blown out of portion by some interested parties and misleading the President,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Zimula Kasirye, the district chairperson, said the district has not been collecting revenue since the miners have been dodging taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe district is not benefiting from gold mining . Whenever we approach the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development for our share of revenue, the ministry claims miners don\u2019t pay taxes since they are not licensed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Kasirye said the district could have earned Shs3 trillion in revenue if the artisanal miners were paying taxes.<\/p>\n

Ms Phoebe Namulindwa, the Resident District Commissioner, said the move is aimed at permitting the government to handover the mines to the company expected to operate it.<\/p>\n

Ms Namulindwa said the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development licensed Kisiita Mining Company to operate the mines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company has failed to take over the mines due to various wrangles with other companies also claiming to own mining rights in the same area. So, we are under instructions from the President to evict all the people from the mining site.<\/p>\n

Mr Vincent Ssendijja, a dealer at the mines, said several artisanal miners have started vacating the mines while others are still adamant.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people have vacated the gold mines, with some joining Lubaali gold mine. However, it is not productive like Kisiita. Others still go to Kisiita gold mine fearing that they might be arrested or beaten by police,\u201d Mr Ssendijja said.<\/p>\n

Kassanda has four gold mines in Kitumbi and Kalwana Sub-counties that have witnessed emergence of small townships populated by labourers and traders seeking to eke out a living at the mines and from auxiliary businesses.<\/p>\n

Background<\/b><\/p>\n

The affected miners are part of the 60,000 who were forcefully evicted from eight mining sites in Bukuya and Kitumbi sub-counties. In 2018, police and Uganda People\u2019s Defence Forces were deployed in gold mining sites in the district and demolished all the makeshift structures that were being used by artisanal miners. Government accused the miners of failing to pay taxes, prompting the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to start licensing companies and individuals. However, artisanal miners have continued to illegally operate in the area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. More than 30,000 artisanal gold miners at Kisiita gold mining site in Kassanda District are pondering their next move after government gave them up to November to voluntarily vacate the site or face forceful eviction. Artisanal mining involves the use of rudimentary tools such as hoes, spades, shovels, and axes. Mr Peter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-16829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nGovt gives 30,000 miners two months to vacate Kasiita site - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More than 30,000 artisanal gold miners at Kisiita gold mining site in Kassanda District are pondering their next move af ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt gives 30,000 miners two months to vacate Kasiita site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than 30,000 artisanal gold miners at Kisiita gold mining site in Kassanda District are pondering their next move af ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-31T17:13:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/08\/img-612e3cdc1ce43.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Govt gives 30,000 miners two months to vacate Kasiita site\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-31T17:13:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site\"},\"wordCount\":573,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/08\/img-612e3cdc1ce43.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-30000-miners-two-months-to-vacate-kasiita-site\",\"name\":\"Govt gives 30,000 miners two months to vacate Kasiita site - 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