NEMA Cracks Down on Illegal Sand Mining in Lake Victoria.

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has impounded sand mining equipment, including motor cars, trucks, and tractors used illegally to mine sand in Lake Victoria.

According to Maj. Joshua Karamagi, the Manager of the Environment Protection Force (EPL), the exercise is happening across four sites in Lwera, and these sites will also be demobilized.

“We are on an operation against sand mining, which is done by the use of dredgers and excavators, which generally affects the ecosystem and destroys the environment. Our objective today is to impound vehicles, trucks, excavators, or tractors, then demobilize the mining sites where a murrum was dumped, demolish structures in the wetlands, arrest proprietors, and target the prosecution of de-graders,” Maj Karamagi said.

Maj. Karamagi said that they are going to work together with the local leaders to ensure that the sites are monitored against further mining.

“We are also ensuring that there is continued supervision of the targets and monitoring and surveillance of the sites for compliance purposes. We are working with the local leaders to enable them to better enforce the environmental regulations and sand mining in the locality,” Karamagi noted.

He also vowed to impound equipment, including the immovable.

“On the ground, we are going to impound all the exits that are movable, and those that are not moveable shall find a way of safely demobilizing them,” he said.

Sand mining in Lwera, a swamp on the banks of Lake Victoria, has been a significant issue for several years.

Builders say that it is preferred for its coarse texture and that it performs better in brickwork mortar; however, environmental activists, local officials, and stakeholders argue that these mining activities must be stopped because they degrade the wetland, causing problems like floods.