Prime
100 jobless as two wine factories close
Kabale Municipal Council officials inspect Umusheshe Pineapple Wine processing factory before they ordered its closure last Friday. PHOTO | EMMANUEL ARINAITWE
About 100 workers are jobless after authorities in Kabale Municipality closed two wine processing factories over failure to meet standard operationing requirements of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS).
JK Pineapple and Umusheshe Pineapple wine processing factories in Mwanjari and Rushaki wards, respectively, in Southern Division were closed on Friday.
Mr Alex Baingana, the principal assistant Town Clerk for Southern Division, and the municipal council health inspector, Mr Andrew Biija, ordered their closure after inspecting them.
“The factories are not meeting standard operational requirements. We are here to look at the conditions and the health status of your workplaces. Our role is to protect you. You don’t have first aid boxes, no fire extinguisher, and nurse; in case you collapse, you can die, that’s why we are here. We have closed these factories until further notice because your drinks are not cleared by UNBS,” Mr Baingana told the workers.
“At JK Pineapple Wine, workers were found using dirty clothes to filtrate juice from cooked pineapples for fermentation and were operating in filthy rooms. We found marijuana planted next to saucepans and workers had no health certificates. So we have arrested the manager of the factory, Mr Silva Byamukama, to explain to us,” he added.
Mr Biija said at Umusheshe Pineapple Wine factory, more than 60 workers were not observing Covid-19 standard operating procedures and other safety guidelines.
The officials said the factories will remain closed until the company directors and managers put measures that ensure that the drinks are fit for human consumption.
Mr Byamukama said they were in the process of getting approval from UNBS.
“We started last year and we are in the process of getting all the requirements. We ask for forgiveness because everything that we have been doing here, even measurements, temperature of the products being manufactured, we have been using my eyes and I apologize,” he said.
Caution
The Resident District Commissioner, Mr Darius Nandinda, asked the district health department to ensure all factories involved in the manufacture of local drinks and food stuffs are properly validated and supervised to avoid serving poisonous items that can result in serious health problems in the communities.
“I appeal to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards to ensure timely supervision in up country districts to impound all the processed and packed soft drinks and food stuffs that are not certified. I also appeal to the business community to avoid investing their money in items that are not certified because once impounded, they will lose their investment,” Mr Nandinda said.
