Atkinson Ojara, the Lamogi Sub-County Chairperson says there is a need to streamline the crackdown to focus on stopping large-scale charcoal production instead of banning charcoal production completely without giving locals other energy alternatives for home use.
Residents and local leaders
within Gulu City and neighboring districts in the Acholi Sub-region have called
on Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) to relax restrictions on the transportation of charcoal meant for domestic consumption.
The call comes in the wake of a
sharp rise in the prices of charcoal that has stimulated an energy crisis in
most urban households following an intensified crackdown by the army on the implementation
of Executive Order No 3.
The crackdown launched in July
this year cut off major transit routes in Amuru,
Nwoya, and Gulu districts that were being used by commercial charcoal traders despite the ban on commercial production, trade, and transportation of charcoal. But some locals say while the crackdown
should have targeted only commercial charcoal dealers, any bag of charcoal
being transported is currently being intercepted, sparking scarcity for home
use.
Denis Ochola, a small-scale
charcoal trader in Pagoro Parish, Lamogi Sub-County in Amuru district told
Uganda Radio Network Monday that the restriction has paralyzed his business. Ochola says he used to buy charcoal from other charcoal producers
within the sub-county and would transport between two to three bags on a motorcycle
to Gulu City for sale.
He however says ever since the army started their operation, small-scale traders like him have been banned from transporting
any bag of charcoal on a motorcycle. “We are unfairly being stopped
from selling charcoal which is produced from trees cut from our farmlands but
not government forests. We thought the restriction was only for those carrying
hundreds of bags of charcoal being produced from gazetted forests,” says Ochola.
Ochola isn’t the only small-scale
charcoal trader affected by the charcoal restriction. Esther Agnes Okongo, 60, a
businesswoman at Cuk Ot Yat in Bardege Layibi Division in Gulu City, says that the
restriction has caused a scarcity of charcoal which has since sent its price through the
roof. Okongo who had once been in the
charcoal trade says unlike in the past where a bag of charcoal cost between
30,000 and 40,000 shillings, currently a bag goes for 60,000 and 80,000 shillings.
“I can’t sell the same charcoal
in a bag anymore because that means I should sell at 100,000 shillings or more
which is expensive for my clients. I am now resorting to selling them in small
polythene bags,” says Okongo. She notes that there is a need
for the army and the National Forestry Authority (NFA) personnel to consider
relaxing their restriction to allow the transportation of charcoal for home use
since charcoal remains the primary cooking fuel for many urban households.
“How can an old woman like me afford
a gas cylinder for home use because the army doesn’t want charcoal? We have
been using charcoal for a long time for domestic use and that shouldn’t be
taken away from us without a cheaper alternative source of energy,” she says.
Atkinson Ojara, the Lamogi Sub-County
Chairperson says there is a need to streamline the crackdown to focus on
stopping large-scale charcoal production instead of banning charcoal production
completely without giving locals other energy alternatives for home use.
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Maj. Peter Mugisha, the Fourth
Infantry Division Public Information Officer says the army has considered allowing
motorcycles and vehicles carrying only two bags of charcoal through checkpoints
for domestic use.
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According to Maj. Mugisha, the army will continue implementing
the crackdown since it’s hard to differentiate between charcoal being
transported for domestic or commercial purposes. He noted that some traders are
now using motorcyclists to transport bags of charcoal through checkpoints, which
is later piled and transported to the Central region.
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Last month, the army seized 28,000 bags of
charcoal illegally being transported from Amuru District. The charcoals were produced
from Zoka Forest Reserve, one of the Charcoal hotspots in Adjumani district which
has seen drastic forest cover loss over the years.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics report of 2021,
21 percent of Ugandans still depend on charcoal for cooking while 73 percent
use firewood making wood fuel, the most relied-on source of energy for cooking.
