Amend Act. President says he will call for the amendment of the Mining Act 2001 so that investors should negotiate with government first before negotiating with landowners because all property belongs to the State. 

Kampala. President Museveni has said the government will change the law to allow intending investors in the mining industry to access private land that contains minerals without negotiating with the land owners.
President Museveni said this during a conference on mineral wealth in Kampala yesterday. He said Cabinet would push for the amendment of the Mining Act 2001 so that investors negotiate directly with the government for access to the land where they intend to carry out mineral extraction.

“The people who have to give you consent are the people who own the minerals, and that is the government. The other man [landowner] has no consent to give because the property is not his,” said President Museveni.
Currently, investors seeking to do mining business have to obtain consent of the private owners of the land where mineral deposits exist.

“The mistake has been to make the investors deal with the landowners, they should deal with the government; and then the government will deal with the landowners. You just tell those villagers to get out. You cannot stop the State from accessing its assets. We shall sort it out, we shall amend the Act. In fact, the Constitutional Court should say that Act is unconstitutional,” he added.

His remarks come against a backdrop of stalemates between some landowners and private investors, with the former refusing to rent out their land for diverse reasons.

The President also reiterated his 2012 stand on the ban of exportation of iron ore.
He said Uganda needs the iron ore to support its local steel industry.

He said by exporting iron ore, Uganda has to import steel for construction of hydroelectricity projects, which reduces employment opportunities for Ugandans and increases the construction costs on electricity projects.
Mr Museveni also said the government would consider subsidising private entrepreneurs who invest in electricity generating projects by giving them money to pay interest on borrowed loans.

He said this is intended to prevent increasing of power tariffs due to the high costs the investors might have incurred during construction of the power plants.

“If you do not solve the problem of electricity, the railways, no jobs will be created and very soon you will have the Arab Spring. We cannot afford high electricity prices, especially for manufacturing. For the discotheques, I do not mind [them paying higher electricity tariffs],” said Mr Museveni.

President Museveni (L) launches the Future Cities forum in Kampala on Wednesday. Looking on is Ms Jennifer Musisi, the KCCA executive director, and minister for Kampala, Mr Frank Tumwebaze. Photo by PPU 

By FARAHANI MUKISA

Posted  Friday, October 3  2014 at  01:00

Officiating at the opening of the Future of Cities Forum on Wednesday in Kampala, President Museveni said having more people in rural areas than in towns is a sign of underdevelopment, as such populations cause land fragmentations, which negatively impact constructive production.

“Urbanisation is a tool for reorganising societies through social transformations and development, creating more opportunities to people living in them,” he said.

“If you see that you are having more people in agriculture than in industry and services, and more people in rural areas than in towns, those are characteristics of backwardness,” he said, referring to his pre-economic lessons as a lecturer.

“So, you Africans you are still backward and the Europeans are lenient they can’t tell you that, but for me I have told you. You can also judge yourself and find where you belong,” he stated, attracting laughs from the crowd.

He asked participants at the forum to look at rural-urban migrations as a driver for development and not only discuss planning but also devise mechanisms through which urban centres can be made tools for social transformation.

President Museveni said Europeans had developed through “de-Africanising” themselves through industry and services sectors promotion that employs more people than agriculture.

“Europeans realised their population was growing geographically and yet its production was growing arithmetically, meaning they were less productive, so they de-Africanised themselves,” he said.

This is why, he said, his government introduced a law (KCCA Act 2010) that makes service deliveries in Kampala close to the people with close government monitoring.