The Leader of the Opposition and Kasese Woman Representative, Hon. Winfred Kiiza urges government to terminate the contract of Tibet Hima Mining Company.
Tibet Hima is the company contracted to manage the Kilembe Mines in Kasese under a concession agreement.
Kiiza who addressed the media at Parliament, Wednesday, 06th September 2017 alongside Hon. Robert Centenary (Kasese Municipality) said that despite the decision by government to terminate the contract, the company has bribed technocrats to continue operating.
“Ministers and other government officials have been compromised by Tibet Hima. We shall not let these people exploit us as we look on; they have breached the agreement and they must leave,” she said.
Kiiza added that instead of exploring for minerals in the region, the company applied to export over 30,000 tonnes of copper.
“Kasese has other minerals like gold, zinc, nickel and manganese. Why isn’t this company doing exploration of these? We shall not allow this anymore in Kasese. We are ready to fight for what is ours,” she added.
The Leader of the Opposition said that the company has also defaulted on taxation from their activities that they have carried out.
“Tibet Hima has not been paying taxes of a long time. How are our people supposed to benefit if they are not meeting their tax obligations?” Kiiza wondered.
Kiiza blames President Yoweri Museveni’s brother, Salim Saleh, of brokering the deal with the quack investors promising Kasese leaders that they would benefit from the venture.
“Kasese has other minerals like gold, zinc, nickel and manganese. Why isn’t this company doing exploration of these? We shall not allow this anymore in Kasese. We are ready to fight for what is ours,” she added.
She told Saleh to stay away from their minerals and concentrate on Operation Wealth Creation [OWC] programme or go mine from Mirama Hills.
Recently, the Minister of State for Investments, Hon. Evelyn Anite informed Parliament that government had issued a notice of termination of the contract with a winding up commission put in place.
