Namutumba sand miners decry price fluctuations

“I left Iganga for Namutumba to engage in sand mining, thinking the activity earns better here but there is no difference,” he told Daily Monitor at the weekend.

Kirya is not alone in this dilemma. Sand miners in Nakawunzo Village, Nawaikona Sub-county in Namutumba District, say the activity is not only a seasonal one, but also the least paid.

Mr Michael Kalikwani, another miner, said prices for a trip of plaster sand have been fluctuating since last year, and now ranges between Shs25,000 and Shs30,000 depending on the size of the truck, down from between Shs35,000 and Shs40,000 a few years ago.

He blamed the price fluctuation on truck drivers and the poor road network.
“Truck drivers are always complaining of the long distances they drive from Namutumba to Jinja and Iganga. They also tell us that their trucks consume a lot of fuel during those trips,” he said.

For that reason, Mr Richard Menya, a sand miner from Busembatia Town Council, has urged authorities to lobby for them to benefit from government programmes such as the Youth Livelihood Fund (YLF) and Emyooga.

Mr Menya also said to get better deals, authorities should help them access money from such initiates such that they start ferrying the sand to Kampala themselves, where they say there is ready and good market.

“Financially, we are not stable, so we end up being cheated by brokers; we now want to start selling sand in Kampala,” he said.
Mr Ben Dikange, a truck driver, however, blamed the poor prices of sand on construction engineers and brokers, whom he said pay them little money.

“Sand mining is a profitable job but the problem is brokers. Much as sand miners and scoopers blame us for the poor and often fluctuating prices, we are also cheated by brokers,” he said.
Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. 
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