A motorcycle rider carrying three bags of charcoal along Palaro-Gulu City road. Photos by Arnest Tumwesige
By Arnest Tumwesige and Leonard Masauli
Uganda/Malawi: When the President of Uganda issued Executive Order No.3 in May 2023, it aroused excitement from environmentalists because it contained among other issues, a ban on commercial charcoal production.
But as soon as the order was issued, the dealers thought of other cunning strategies to employ and remain in the business.
In the districts in Northern Uganda, for instance, where there is high forest cover and community woodlots, the trend has changed from how the charcoal is transported from deep in the villages to the towns where it is loaded.
From the start of the ban, the traders still rely on motorcyclists who have abandoned their former business of carrying passengers for charcoal business.
At a random sampling of a district road from the rural area leading to town, one will observe at least a motorcycle carrying three bags passing by at an interval of every 40 minutes.
Calvin Okello, a 32 year old is among those who have joined charcoal transportation where he claims to earn more compared to the first occupation.
In a day, Okello makes two routes bringing a total of six bags in a day. In a month, he carries an average of 200 bags because he sometimes makes three routes.
He told GNNA that each bag is sold at shs 40,000 (10.8USDs) making a profit of shs 20,000 (5.4USDs).
Due to the high demand of charcoal by the traders who come to Gulu City, once a cyclist delivers the charcoal, it is immediately loaded in the waiting Fuso trucks parked along Lango road in Bardege-Layibi division.
Robert Mugume a 28 year old who was hesitant to share any information said it is better off waiting for charcoal from town than going deep in villages.
“I am just buying from other traders. So once I load, I can then travel back to Kampala safely. But before we started doing this, some of my colleagues would lose the entire stock after being impounded in the villages and even threats to burn our trucks,” Mugume disclosed.
When GNNA did an on-spot visit to the yard with guidance from Christopher Oruka, a local activist, about 17 trucks were found parked waiting to load. Unlike in the past where the traders were first hiding charcoal in boots of buses and box body trucks, this is no more.
Is the enforcement working?
“This business is for well-connected people within the security apparatus of the government,” a highly placed female source that went undercover to investigate the business told GNNA.
The source working with Internal Security Organization (ISO) claimed that, monies are collected right from the source and sent on phone numbers of the different officers manning security on different check points to ease movement of the trucks.
However, GNNA could not independently verify that claim. But it was observed that the trucks carrying charcoal cross the check points, heading to Kampala Capital City, over 330kms away.
Christopher Oruka, a member of Acholi Environmental Conservation Agency in Gulu City is one of those who has been hunting down dealers who are still active in the business.
Oruka has now made it a must to reach villages daily, with the help of local vigilantes and sub-county police to impound charcoal and power saw machines.
He believes the directive of the President is working to a smaller extent given the fact that trucks loaded with charcoal still exit the region as the implementers look on.
In March 2024, James Onyinge Penywii, the Director of Research, Education and Advocacy in the Office of Inspectorate General of Government (IGG) while in Amuru district was surprised to learn that charcoal business was still on despite the ban.
Is it ignorance or complacency?
This is not the first time directives are issued on top of the existing legal framework of the National Forest Act of 2003.
In February 2018, The Observer ran a story on February 13, 2003 on how Mary Goretti Kitutu Kimono the former Minister of Environment issued a ban on felling of Shea nut trees after they were considered as endangered species.
To that effect, Police headquarters issued a directive to all regional police commanders and district police commanders to ensure the ban is implemented.
In January 2023 before the President issued an Executive Order, Beatrice Anywar, the State Minister of Environment, also wrote a letter to the Gulu District Chief Administrative Officer, directing suspension of issuance of forest produce movement documentation for charcoal or timber from Gulu District, regardless of the source. Despite the directive, charcoal and timber dealers are still operating.
According to the Forest Reference Level submitted by Uganda in 2017, deforestation continues to occur at a rate of approximately 50,147 hectares annually, contributing to emissions equivalent to 8,253,982 tons of CO2. It is also believed that, Uganda shall experience total forest depletion by 2040 if this trend is left unchecked.
Tree cutting is immensely contributing to carbon emissions, a case of Northern Uganda
Whereas efforts like the President’s directive would have reduced this problem, Author Owor, the Program Manager of the Centre for Africa Research NGO in Gulu district said enforcement failed after the implementers concentrated on the migrant cattle keepers and neglected charcoal dealers.
Owor, who is an activist behind “Our Trees, We Need Answers”, a pressure group in Gulu City, said the issue of environmental destruction needs a keen look due to the high relation it has with human security.
Bulington Pa’Ogwench the Gulu district councilor representing Bungatira sub-county said the presidential directive was good, but the overreliance on forest products as source of local revenue for lower local governments is largely to blame for the persistent illegal trade.
Despite the vigorous earlier enforcement step taken by Uganda National Forest Authority (NFA), the trade is still on even when over 200 tons of charcoal were impounded by July 2023.
The operation conducted jointly with the Environmental Police Protection Unit targeted the defiant traders in Acholi sub region.
Kenya charcoal suspension opportunity
In 2017, Kenya suspended logging in all forests in the country for the next three months which has now extended to six months since the directive.
The East African, an online publication published an article detailing how Charcoal traders from Kenya come to Uganda after the ban was issued.
The article published in May 2019 indicated that “selling charcoal to Kenyan traders earns the Ugandan dealers more. For example, a sack of charcoal in Uganda costs at least shs 57,000, but it rises to shs 83,000, when they sell to dealers from across the eastern border.”
Agnes Nakato, a charcoal dealer from Central Uganda, has been in the trade for five years. Nakato told GNNA a bag of charcoal in Kampala is sold at shs 80,000.
“I am not sure of the price in Kenya. But I have heard from colleagues who sneak through the porous border routes of Tororo and Busia districts that it is sold at shs 120,000.”
Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime published a commodity report of March 2021 showing that unlike Kenya which has a higher electrification by 2018 standing at 78%, Uganda and South Sudan have the lowest. The majority of the two countries’ population standing at 85 and 97% respectively use wood fuel.
With Uganda serving as a regional producer, the report titled “Black Gold” also shows that the main sites of charcoal production in Uganda are found in the northern parts of the country, mainly West Nile and Acholi.
“Most charcoal is produced from wood harvested in private land, so charcoal producers have no obligation and very little incentive to replant trees. Reforestation initiatives are often impeded by lack of funds and limited interest from the landowners and charcoal producers,” it reads in parts.
Illegal Charcoal trade, an African problem
In Malawi, the government in 2017 deployed soldiers to man the forests but years down, the interventions have not been very successful and millions of trees continue to be cut down wantonly.
Averagely, In Malawi about 33,000 hectares is deforested every year. This among others include the forestry encroachers for charcoal burning and timber smugglers across borders.
Mercy Lupakisho, 45, hails from Mwenengolongo Village in Traditional Authority Mwakaboko in the northern district of Karonga. For over a decade, she has known no other business apart from selling charcoal.
She proudly states that her business has thrived for over 10 years and has never sold her charcoal to Malawian customers, but only across the border to Tanzania.
During a day spent with her as she gathered her bags of charcoal at the Songwe border, she refused to sell within her locality. “In Malawi, we sell about US$8 (shs 30,000) per 50-kilogram bag, while in Tanzania it fetches triple the price, around US$20 (shs 76,000), which is more profitable.
Investigations have shown that Forest regulations of 2004 in Tanzania strictly prohibits cutting down trees for timber charcoal among other products. This has made the Tanzanians staying at the borderline rely on timber and charcoal from Malawi, subsequently accelerating deforestation.
Kingston Kamunkhwala Tembo from the Karonga District Forestry Office said in addition to charcoal, timber is also highly exported to Tanzania.
Tembo explained that smuggling timber and charcoal to sell in Tanzania has been a longstanding issue and a difficult battle to fight because the community is often hostile towards enforcement efforts.
“The District Forestry Office has always worked hard to combat this malpractice, together with the police and local chiefs, but it has not been an easy ride,” Tembo said.
Malawi’s Charcoal in Tanzania
Tembo disclosed that Tanzanian forestry officials do not crack down on Malawian charcoal sellers, allowing them to operate freely if the charcoal originates from Malawi. This leniency has encouraged the sale of charcoal in Tanzania, leading to the depletion of forests on the Malawian side.
“If you stand and look at the Tanzanian side, you will see that the trees are quite intact, unlike on the Malawian side where all the trees are gone. Not even one is remaining,” Tembo explained.
Uganda’s reforestation plan
In January 2024, the government through the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) secured 40 million euros (shs165.7b) to facilitate plans to restore the lost forest cover in northern Uganda.
Alfred Okot Okidi, the Permanent Secretary at MWE, disclosed in an interview with GNNA that the fund was secured from the European Union.
Okidi revealed that the ministry had already approved a plan for community tree planting, and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with both religious and traditional leaders to implement the project.
Similarly, the Community Road Empowerment (CORE), a Japanese organization, has started a one-year campaign to plant 40,000 trees in an attempt to restore forest cover and fight the effects of climate change.
The over 240,000 USD (shs900m) ecological project was launched in April to target Gulu district.
This story was published with support from Environmental Reporting Collective (ERC) to trace environmental crimes across borders.
