As law makers from Karamoja sub region wake up from their deep sleep and start barking at people they suspect to be hacking the land resource in the area, more inhuman acts should be the number two question in the queue of unfair Karamoja ventures in my view.
I write here with regards to what Tororo Cement Factory is doing to its servants – the Karimojong locals – the third class workers inputting to the cement factory from the marble mining site in Moroto district. It is a big act of exploitation of humanity- similar to those of the colonial time. In fact now I understand why historians argue that neo-colonialism is worse than the official colonial operations. One rough idea could be; well, that Africans then were in the hands of European masters, but today even a continent like Asia that never had muscles to colonise can fit in the masters’ title because of its financial and business strength.
The other emblematical reason is one in which I am a witness. It is one in which Lokwakipi Lokwang, a resident of Kosiroi marble mining site is a victim. Reader, my pen went heavy as I scribbled down this story. I forced the driver to pinch the break at a site where Lokwang was performing the donkey task. First, I apologise for failure to carry my digital Cam that could have displayed the real donkey task to viewers. Nevertheless, the facts are in the next paragraph.
The excavator exhumes huge stones and leaves them out in their colossal sizes because men should break them up using locally twisted heavy metals; it’s not bad, because the men will be paid money. This stones are so hard and men have to cut trees and fetch big logs to hit the stones up so they can easily split them; it’s not hard since cash is involved. But men prefer to work on an individual basis possibly so the big cash can go to an individual; its okay since ready money is the answer. A big truck should be loaded with the stones and when it’s full is when the worker is paid; fine –cash is coming. The whole battle to fetch stones that can fill a marble truck takes between two to three weeks.
I watched the task Lokwang was performing for a quick five minutes. It was like a scary movie on slaves and slave trade in colonial Africa, yet this is a normal way of earning a living in North-Eastern Uganda. As I coiled back to the car, the Lucky Dube song, “I am a slave ...a prisoner...” that was rocking on the heavy Nissan Patrol car provoked stupid tears from my skull, but nothing more than saying it on the blog, can I do!
The factory buys a fully loaded lorry of marble at Ushs.110,000/- (one hundred, ten thousand Ugandan money only). This is where I feel, the legislators should take over from when they get done with the land gymnastic. I know am not very good at sciences, but I tried hard to balance the equation of the work to the remuneration given and it just can’t come. Lokwnag told me that his colleagues tried to advocate for an increment of the pay to some Ushs. 250,000 but no master wants to listen to this. They threaten “if you say so then we shall bring machines to break the stones...” he said.
Now I hear this deal of milking Karamoja without feeding has been given to Tororo Cement for a couple of years. A lease am told, of 25 years was given to the cement factory to continue doing what they do in the place until time comes for its renewal again. I hope the lives of individuals who are engaged at the site will also be fresh as the factory continues gaining profits by hiking the price of cement and reducing the pay for the stone fighters.
However, they say the factory does a good tax paying job by releasing almost some 40 million shillings almost annually to the local government. How big is 40 million? May be quite big! But we need to pray for the roads and the people who could not be knowing the current global economic stand. Let me rest the case here for now.
