By Spy Uganda
The territorial Police in Nakapiripirit, on the 3.07.2023, arrested a Police driver, identified as CPL Walukayo Jude, attached to Elgon region in Mbale, while transporting 80 bags of charcoal along the Nakapiripirit-Moroto highway, in a lorry truck under reg.no. UP 9639. He was immediately charged with scandalous behavior and dismissed from the Force.
Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga says thereafter, he was charged to court, with 3 other charcoal dealers, who included; Okiror Isaiah, Mugabi Peter and Mubogi David Luke, for the illegal possession and dealing in forestry products.
The four have since been remanded to Namalu prison.
According to a 2018 report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, reliance on charcoal or firewood is highest in Africa and Asia, with some African cities almost entirely dependent on charcoal for cooking.
Some 25% to 35% of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions come from so-called biomass burning, which also includes seasonal fires intentionally set to clear land for agriculture, according to the European Space Agency.
Most of those fires occur in tropical regions of Africa. In Uganda, an East African country of 45 million people, charcoal is preferred in households across the income spectrum, but especially in those of the urban poor — seen as ideal in the preparation of certain dishes that require slow cooking.
Middle-class families maintain both gas cookers and charcoal stoves.
The leading supplier of charcoal in the country, northern Uganda, has long been the scene of sustained forest destruction, with local leaders demanding a total ban on commercial production.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni recently issued an executive order banning the commercial production of charcoal in the area, disrupting a national trade that has long been influenced by cultural sensibilities as much as the seeming abundance of idle land.
It remains to be seen how effective the president’s order will be amid corruption concerns and an inevitable scarcity that’s bound to make charcoal more expensive.
