By Mulengera Reporters
Recently, President Museveni travelled to Busia’s Butebo Sub County to commission the launching ceremony for the Wagagai Gold Refinery. It’s owned by a group of Chinese investors who are closely linked to the Chinese state back home in Beijing.
The glamorous commissioning event was attended by Ministers Ruth Nankabirwa, Phiona Nyamutoro, David Bahati and Amos Lugolobi who represented the Matia Kasaija-led Finance Ministry. The President thanked the investor for such a game-changing investment reflecting on the job creation potential and also recognized the fact that the project wouldn’t have been possible without the Samia Bugwe Kingdom King His Royal Highness Robert Obara providing the more than 20 square miles of land on which Wagagai is operating.
It was on this land that the exploration for the gold, which started five years ago, and the eventual actual gold mining, which has been ongoing for the last two years, has been taking place. There has also been some mining or extraction of the area’s high quality sand, and exportation too.
The GoU of Gen YK Museveni, through Nankabirwa and Nyamutoro’s Ministry of Energy & Mineral Development, granted the Chinese investors behind Wagagai a mining license of 21 years. The surface rights had to be obtained from the registered landlord or owner of the land, who in this case is the Samia Bugwe Kingdom as represented by His Royal Highness Robert Obara.
The lease for the land, to facilitate mining by Wagagai which is a subsidiary belonging to one of Africa’s largest gold mining entities, entitles His Royal Highness Robert Obara to being compensated in return for the surface rights that were granted to the mining company.
For years, the Samia Bugwe King has been negotiating with the Wagagai Gold Mining company representatives demanding for the compensation to which he is entitled. He is entitled to this because the institution he leads is the one under which that land at Butebo Sub County is vested. This was validated, not very long ago, in a Presidential Directive that was proclaimed by none other than the President of Uganda.
The King is demanding for a total of Shs25bn in compensation as the landlord from whose land Wagagai’s surface mining rights were derived. The negotiation and harmonization meetings have been endless and the King is now frustrated that his patience and decency is beginning to be misconstrued for a weakness by especially the investor’s lawyers: namely the company legal manager Derrick Lutale and Spera Owomugisha who belongs to Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA), who are Wagagai’s external lawyers.
The King’s original plan was to use a significant chunk of that money to fund the upgrade of the community roads infrastructure in Busia Municipality. This is a busy trading hub at the all-important border of Uganda and Kenya yet it’s roads have become synonymous with huge potholes and life-threatening dust. It’s something Robert Obara’s people have been complaining about for years.
The ordinary people are aware of their King’s plans and have been mounting pressure. With the President coming to campaign in Busia on Saturday as part of his campaign trail for Bukedi sub region, the King has been under growing pressure from his subjects and some of the Palace officials to call for demonstrations to denounce the NRM government (coinciding with the President’s campaign tour) in order to publicize the injustice that has been occasioned by the investor’s delay and refusal to effect the prompt compensation of Shs25bn.
The other cause of anger and disappointment among key Samia Bugwe Kingdom handlers, elders and decision makers is the fact that the establishment of the Wagagai refinery at Butebo was preceded with destruction, removal and relocation of the ancestral burial sites which had the remains of some of Robert Obara’s predecessors and great grand parents.
“That relocation was done with a lot of insensitivity and without adequate consultation and involvement of the Kingdom and yet this is a matter of deep sentimental concern among members of the royal family,” said one of the Samia Bugwe Kingdom officials we spoke to for this article.
Speaking on strict condition of anonymity, a top Wagagai mining company official defended the Chinese investor on grounds that the Shs25bn compensation for the acquisition of surface rights is supposed to paid by the GoU, and not them. “We appreciate their [the king and his subjects] concern but our company is not the right entity to blame and be angry against because that compensation responsibility lies on the shoulders of the GoU, and not us.” (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
