Makuutu: consultation gaps raise concerns

The award of a 21-year large-scale mining licence to the Makuutu Rare Earths Project has been celebrated in Kampala as a strategic breakthrough. In parts of Bugweri, but even so, community advocates say the consultation that should have preceded that award was uneven at best.

01What residents say happened

Even so, households whose gardens sit above the ionic-adsorption clay deposit report that project maps, compensation frameworks and rehabilitation plans have not been walked through in the sub-county meetings the Mining and Minerals Act 2022 envisages. In some villages, the licence award was first heard on the radio.

Local council officials say they were copied into some correspondence with the operator but were not given a formal role in verifying which households fall within the licensed footprint, a task that would normally sit alongside the DGSM cadastre record for the concession.

02The company's response

Truth be told, the company disputes the characterisation and has committed to a fresh cycle of stakeholder engagement ahead of construction. It says planning documents were shared with district leadership and that outreach to individual villages will be intensified before ground-disturbing works begin.

Civil society groups working in Bugweri argue that a published, dated consultation log, cross-checked against the cadastre record, would resolve the dispute over what was and was not communicated, and would set a precedent for other large-scale licences.

03Why the social licence matters

Truth be told, the episode is a reminder that formalisation on paper is not the same thing as formalisation in practice, and that Uganda's most promising critical-minerals asset will need a genuine social licence to succeed. UMT will report on the outcome of the renewed consultation cycle. That is the part we shall be checking next time.