Omel Subcounty authorities in Gulu district have banned the metal scrap business in their area. The decision, which took effect on Thursday this week, follows the death of two pupils of Bul Kur Primary School and injuring of two others while trying to dismantle an explosive for sale to metal scrap dealers.
The remains of Ronald Rubangakene, 15 and Morris Opiyo ,12, were buried on Thursday at their ancestral homes in Bul Kur ‘’B’’ Village also in Omel Sub County. Their siblings Derrick Okello,12 and Brian Rubangakene,12, are nursing injuries at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital in Gulu City.
The injured pupils disclosed to their parents from their sickbed that they were dismantling the explosive and sharing parts for sale to scrap dealers. A kilogram of metal scrap costs Shillings 600. Brian Rubangakene said that they found the explosive in a bush and tried to dismantle it by severally hitting it on a stone. He says that it ejected smoke and exploded shortly after killing two of them instantly and injuring them as they fled for their dear lives.
“We found the explosive in the bush and picked it and wanted to sell it to the scrap dealers in whole but Opici said that we split it before selling. As we hit it on the stone, we saw smoke puffing from it. I told Opici and Abang (both deceased) that this thing kills, I remember my father told me about it. But Opici insisted that it was already damaged and cannot kill. That is all I can remember,’’ Rubangakene said. The minor is nursing a broken right arm at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital.
Nighty Aneno, 39, who is nursing the injured children at the hospital, said that there are hundreds of mobile scrap dealers who comb Omel Sub County on motorcycles and bicycles in search of scrap metals. She says that hundreds of children comb every corner of the area looking for scrap metals which they sell to the dealers at Shillings 600 per kilogram.
Walter Tootika, Omel Sub County councillor and the deputy speaker Bosco Abonga, said they resolved quickly on Friday to avoid such occurrences since the area is heavily infiltrated by the scrap dealers and explosives left behind during the Lord`s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency.
Tootika adds that anyone found involved in the scrap business risk being arrested or expelled from the sub-county. The area leaders have also started a massive campaign against tampering with suspicious devices so as to avert such calamities.
“Yesterday we also discovered another bomb but what we agreed upon is that we have placed a total ban on metal scrap dealers, they are no longer wanted in Omel. This is because the issue of metal scrap dealing that is bringing us problems. So we have placed a total ban, we don’t want anyone to come to trade in metal scrap in Omel.”
One of the scrap dealers, who asked not to be named protested the decision, noting that the business should be streamlined instead of being banned. The metal scrap is reportedly transported to Central Uganda where it is recycled to produce items such as saucepans, bicycles, motorcycle spare parts, hand hoes, axes, and pangas among other metal products.
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