MOROTO – There is brewing conflict between the Karamojong communities of Rupa Sub County in Moroto district with the Sunbelt marble mining company over stones.
The community members who spoke to PML Daily on Sunday said the investor whose cutting tiles from stones have denied the community members any access to crash and sale stones to other companies that supply marble and limestone in Tororo and Kampala.
Ms Grace Nacahpa one of the aggrieved community said early this year the district leaders and the members of parliament had a meeting with the community and the investor where they agreed that from Monday to Thursday, it’s the community to break stones and sale while the sunbelt investor takes Friday and Sunday, however, she said this has not been followed.
“In that meeting with the MPs we are agreed that let the community be breaking and sale the stones from Monday to Thursday and then the remaining days can be for the investor but what’s happening now it’s different and all the local miners are becoming wild,” she said.
Timothy Teko another miner said initially the local miners used to sale a trailer full of marble and limestone at Shs1M but when Sunbelt investors lowered their prices to shs 800,000 full of trailer, its has made these companies that supply marble to other companies to abandoned buying stones from the local community.
Mr. Teko said they have made several calls to their political leaders to intervene but the politicians have also feared that Sunbelt could easily finance their opponents ahead of 2021 general elections.
“We have made several calls to our political leaders but what we have realized is that our politicians also fear to rise up their heads because these investors can easily influence their political opponents against them,” he said.
The effort to get a comment from members of parliament and district leaders failed.
Lt. Col Amos Oyugi, the overseer of Sunbelt when contacted could not pick up our several calls.
