Embrace Amuru Sugar Works
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10 NEW VISION, Tuesday, August 7, 2012 Comment Sham drug makers should pay reparations Embrace Amuru sugar works aving examined the legal and confectionary, and will shortly conceptual challenges to land generate up to 52MW of electricity OPINION acquisition for development in from bagasse; while ash and other northern Uganda in the fi rst factory residues are recycled as Hpart of this article yesterday, let me turn organic manure. he National Drug Authority (NDA) has to the issue of Amuru Sugar Works as an It also has large repair workshops, temporarily banned 67 different medi- illustrative example. foundries to manufacture spares, four cines from an Indian-based pharma- Doing so, I recognise on-going dialogue petrol stations, two bank branches and ceutical company because they were and progress made and the position of other social amenities. Tfound to be dangerous (see P1 & 3). those who hold genuine concerns about Workers (7,500) are accommodated the project. in permanent quarters and, during While the drug authority should be ap- In 2007, Madhvani Group traversed work, served porridge and lunch, and plauded for this bold step, stringent measures West Nile, Madi, Acholi, Lango to identify are unionised under NOTU and enjoy site for a new sugar factory. good remunerations and opportunity should be put in place to make dealing in fake After technical consideration, they to progress. drugs very costly besides banning the importa- settled on land in Amuru District close Prof. Morris They have medical insurance and tion of all products from such pharmaceutical to Nile waters, and drew up preliminary free access to medical services at the companies forever. investment plan that they shared with the company’s 100-bed hospital, and there Government, Acholi Parliamentary Group Ogenga Latigo are three nursery, eight primary and The public is interested in knowing the (APG), the Paramount Chief and other Former Leader of Opposition one A-level schools for their children. mechanisms NDA put in place to ensure all cultural leaders of Acholi. But then all The Madhvani Group is also the best these drugs were removed from the shelves hell broke loose! in the 8th Parliament sugar investor for Amuru, having been When President Museveni declared in the sugar industry since 1930s, with before the ban was slapped. If this was not intention to build a sugar factory in unrivalled local experience. done, then the drug authority should intensify Amuru as part of his recovery effort for The Group is also deeply committed on-spot checks as some unscrupulous drug the North, he provoked the ire of some to developing Acholi, demonstrated Acholi politicians, with APG asserting by their ownership of the magnifi cent dealers might rebrand and still off-load pro- that such investment will not be Madhvani’s chose Paraa and Chobe Safari Lodges in hibited drugs on the market. considered before people left IDP camps « Nwoya district. The NDA should also tell the public how and returned home. Amuru to reward the It is reported that when addressing On the return of peace in 2009, all a delegation from Amuru district, long these drugs have been on the Ugandan manner of people rushed to the project northerners for their Mayur Madhvani said that whereas market so that the extent of damage can be area to get land. Madhvani Group too they had offers to build sugar factory gauged with a view to instituting legal mea- applied to Amuru DLB for land and sent role in Kakira growth in Hoima and even South Sudan, his staff to start preparatory work. family strongly recognises the role sures to make the concerned company pay The current standoff then began, with northerners played in building KSW to reparations. accusations and relentless campaigns what it is today. And, for them, Amuru waged against Amuru Sugar Works Sugar is their best way of reciprocating and court injunction slapped against been bought. Even when KSW recently that sacrifi ce. Very strong sentiment I xperts have warned that the prohib- the project. Madhvani was accused of sent a team to meet with locals, people must say! ited medicines were not only harmful grabbing customary land of Lamogi were given alcohol and women incited to With the above, just consider what to the patients they have been admin- people, of arrogance and non- undress- a shameful act that some of our Amuru Sugar Works will be to northern consultation with affected people and of own leaders applauded. Uganda- the employment, business istered to, but could also cause drug demanding too much land. The project The land Madhvani asked for (20,000 spinoffs, out-grower benefi ts, local resistantE strains of diseases they are supposed was also portrayed as a slave industry ha estate, 10,000 ha out-growers) is also revenue fl ow and associated demands to treat. that will ruthlessly work our people, pay not too much. for goods and services, infrastructural peanuts and impoverish them. But what Firstly, the cane industry is no development, reliable electricity supply, These patients instead would also pass the are the facts? longer about sugar only- but also biofuel, and attraction of other industries. Can resistant strains of the diseases to others. The confectionary, paper, power generation. this be described as enslavement and of long-term implication is a population with The Amuru land A large nuclear estate with long lease (99 little benefi t to our people? I took trouble to go more than once to years) is essential guarantee for the huge high resistance to the majority of medicines on the land in dispute that is part of former long-term investment required. Appeal our essential drugs list. Aswa-Lolim Controlled Hunting Area. Secondly, this request should be In 1960s, there was bitter struggle over This will not only result into high mortality I know for a fact that people were weighed against Jinja’s Kakira Sugar location of the spinning mill to Lango or removed from this area in 1912 when it Works which is a 10,000 ha estate Acholi. resulting from even the simple ailments we was fi rst gazetted, and the land was never situated in a district that is less than When Lira was chosen, some Acholi have always had, but the cost of diagnosis and resettled after degazettment in 1975. 1/10th the size of Amuru district. The UPC leaders who wanted development treatment will skyrocket as the disease causing It was only at the end of the LRA war degazetted land in Amuru is large, hardly for their people nearly parted company in 2009 that people rushed there and settled, and will accommodate the project with Obote. Yet when a sugar industry germs will have to be cultured in laboratories arbitrarily laid claims over large chunks of without mass displacement of people. was mooted as compensation, other to fi nd the most effective medicine. land. Former and current MPs, soldiers, UPC leaders declared, like now, that The NDA should, therefore, be supported policemen, civil servants and business Is ASW a slave industry? Acholiland could not be played with people are all part of this lot. Outside the oil industry, Amuru Sugar and our people were not slaves to cut in its quest to ensure only quality drugs are As of now, these people cannot seek Works will be the largest investment in sugarcane. Bunyoro offered land and imported into the country. compensation for land held under legally Acholi, employing 10,000 workers and Kinyara Sugar Works was born. fuzzy circumstances. generating great economic spinoffs. Because of this ill-advised rejection, The supposed public interest litigation Its value is best illustrated with the Acholis instead of working in their land is, therefore, but their tactical means example of Kakira Sugar Works which now fl ock to Kinyara, Kakira and Lugazi. of scuttling Amuru sugar project and is one of the country’s largest employers With ASW, the negative forces, who New Vision holding onto land. It has nothing to do and pays about sh70b in taxes annually. have learnt nothing from history, are at it UGANDA’S LEADING DAILY with disenfranchisement of ordinary Kakira Sugar Works in Jinja district again. But unlike the Kinyara case, we are people. maintains over 200km of all-weather lucky that the Government has offered Madhvani’s approach and request access roads used by out-growers. It hires 20% of its shares in ASW for Amuru and Editorial Tel: 0414 -337000/337139 The move to reject ASW is also being hundreds of tractors to plough fi elds and Acholi pending common understanding. P.O. Box 9815 Fax: 0414-235843, Kampala. justifi ed by claims that Madhvani has over 1,000 trucks to transport cane, all I can, therefore, only call upon the e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] been arbitrary, arrogant and insensitive fuelled on credit. Credit is also availed Acholi to wholeheartedly embrace Amuru Marketing/Advertising Tel: 0414-337-000 over this land, but this is not true. to out-growers, whose cane is paid for Sugar Works and put aside all obstacles Fax: 0414 -232050 e-mail: [email protected] Extensive consultations took place with under a WB-ADB approved formula and to its expeditious implementation. Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), Company various stakeholders, but those consulted earns them over sh10b monthly. This is for the good of our jobless listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange have unfairly been accused of having Besides sugar, KSW produces people who have suffered far too long. www.newvision.co.ug How should the Acholi be made to appreciate the Amuru project? E-mail:[email protected].