GNNA Reporter
Amuru
Several businessmen are still dealing in charcoal, despite Executive Order Number 3 issued against the illegal trade.
On May 19, 2023, President Yoweri Museveni banned the mass cutting of trees for commercial charcoal trade, saying it is not only a threat to the environment but discredits the UPDF, who are accused of escorting the charcoal dealers.
Executive Order No. 3 singled out six areas of concern, some of which are; non- compliant cattle keepers, illegal commercial charcoal trade, Turkana entering Uganda with guns, and cattle raids by Karamojong.
Although the implementation of the Executive was set to officially start on October 20, 2023, the implementers have only concentrated on the Balaalo issue, leaving other items in the Executive Order.
On November 3rd, President Yoweri Museveni, while in Okidi Parish in Atiak Sub- County, Amuru district, gave the errant cattle owners three weeks to leave the region.
The silence over the implementation of the ban on illegal charcoal trade has made many continue with the trade.
Nakasitu Jassi, a single mother of seven, said she could not leave the trade because she borrowed a loan from Centenary Bank to start the business.
Nakasitu disclosed that she resorted to the charcoal business after she lost her business in South Sudan due to inflation.
Nakasitu, who buys charcoal from Adjumani district, said she had already, injected 13 million shillings in the business.
‘’I borrowed a loan of 20 million Ugandan shillings from Centenary Bank to come and start the charcoal business, and so I cannot leave it now,” Nakasitu said.
The Amuru Resident District Commissioner Stephen Odong Latek , and the chairperson district security committee spearheading the implementation of the executive order confirmed that commercial charcoal trading is continuing despite efforts to ban it.
According to Latek, auctioning impounded charcoal without giving the perpetrators harsh penalties makes them continue with the trade.
The Amuru District Forest Officer, Keren Akanyo, attributed the continued charcoal trade to high levels of double standards of the implementers of the ban.
“Several officers implementing the ban receive bribes from the charcoal dealers, but blame the district forest officer for the continued illegal trade,” Akanyo said.
Akanyo added that limited capital and human resources also affect the implementation of the charcoal ban.
She revealed that her office only received a budget of around shs3m in a quarter, which is very small to run departmental activities smoothly.
During a press conference with journalists in Gulu recently, the State Minister for Northern Uganda, Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny acknowledged that the implementation of the ban on the charcoal trade has been ignored amid the eviction of the non-compliant migrant cattle owners.
Kwiyucwiny, however, promised to follow up on the progress of the eviction of the charcoal dealers with the Ministry of Water and Environment.
Environmentalists and leaders argued that although banning commercial charcoal trade is a commendable idea, the lack of affordable alternative energy sources for households will affect its sustainable implementation.
The number of people dealing in charcoal in the Acholi sub-region is not known. However, a September 2023 report on the verification exercise to guide the implementation of Executive Order No.3 of 2023, shows that charcoal dealers, mostly from central Uganda, buy land and indiscriminately cut down all trees and remove all roots, which stops the tree stumps from regenerating.
The report recommends the banning of all industries using charcoal, introducing compulsory growing of fast-growing trees, and subsidizing solar stoves, gas cylinders, and electricity to serve as alternative sources of energy.
A 2021 National Service Delivery Survey by Uganda National Bureau of Statistics found that 96 percent of households in Uganda use wood fuel for cooking, of these, 68 percent use wood, while 28 percent use charcoal.
