Charcoal price hike leaves many in pain

In most surveyed urban and peri-urban settings of Kampala, the capital city, the asking price for a sack of charcoal heaped to full capacity has increased from Shs80,000 to Shs160,000.

Observers say the significant hike might exacerbate energy poverty especially since charcoal is a handy source of cooking fuel. To add to the woes of users of this cooking energy source, the modern charcoal sack has been altered to carry half its previous contents.

Charcoal dealers in Kisenyi, on the outskirts of the Kampala Central Business District, said it is now a hurdle finding charcoal to stock in their stores. They added that this is because this common source of household cooking is now too scarce on the market.

“I hardly get a customer to buy a sack of charcoal yet they used to come here in the morning and buy one. They now buy charcoal in tins,” Mr John Tumusiime, a charcoal dealer in Kisenyi, said, adding, “By the end of the day, I sell three to four sacks of charcoal. With a team of those I employ, we can’t survive with such a meagre income.”

Tough times

On May 19, President Museveni used an Executive Order to ban charcoal burning and charcoal business in northern and eastern Uganda.

The move is aimed at addressing the intense deforestation that is fuelled by a quest for charcoal. Mr Museveni ordered security agencies to ensure that his directive is enforced to the latter.

A 2015 survey on charcoal use in Uganda commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme and the Energy ministry indicated that the central region was the major source of charcoal. In the last five years, a new picture has emerged as per dealers this newspaper talked to. The picture shows that most of the charcoal emerges out of northern and northeast Uganda.

In the urban areas, 65.7 percent of the households use charcoal while 33.4 percent use firewood for cooking, according to the report. Use of liquefied petroleum gas in Uganda is still very low even among the Ugandans, who have attained middle income.

According to the 2015 survey,  the central region is the major source of charcoal at 40.9 percent followed by the northern region at 39.5 percent.

The northern region and central region contribute 21.8 percent and 63.4 percent respectively of the charcoal used in the central region.

Mr Tumusiime said the charcoal from those two regions was of good quality and cheaper compared to that from districts of Nakasongola and Nakaseke.

Ms Sophie Namwanje, a restaurant owner, said her business has been hit so hard by the increase in the charcoal prices. Left with little choice, she has resorted to mixing stones with charcoal to save money.

“I used to spend Shs4,000 on charcoal for an entire day, but I now spend Shs12,000. You can’t increase the price of food because most of our customers are low income earners. When you increase the food bill by just Shs500, they will decide to skip a meal,” Ms Namwanje said.

No letting up

The shortage of charcoal could worsen as the police and the army expand the ban to other parts of the country. In an interview with the Daily Monitor yesterday, Mr Fred Enanga, the Police spokesman, said the army and the police will jointly enforce a presidential directive on charcoal and timber countrywide.

“The police are going to jointly enforce the Presidential ban on export of timber and commercial production of charcoal in the country. You are aware that the President issued a ban of unsustainable harvesting of trees for timber and also destructive charcoal burning,” Mr Enanga said, adding, “As a result, all our territorial commanders are with immediate effect being tasked to combat the illegal export of timber, destructive charcoal burning, dealing and transportation of the mentioned items.”

Away from Kampala, a bag of charcoal is going for Shs110,000 in the eastern city of Soroti. In Lira city, a bag of charcoal has soared to Shs50,000 from Shs40,000.

Charcoal is processed wood that is mainly used for cooking. In the disadvantaged northern part of Uganda, where people are still recovering from the two-decade Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency, charcoal burning is one of the only ways people can make money.

Ms Damalie Nachuha, the Aswa Regional Police Commander, said they have aggressively implemented the presidential directive on charcoal production in the region.

“We started with sensitisation, then I directed all the district commanders to impound and arrest the drivers of charcoal trucks and the dealers in the business,” she revealed, adding, “We took them to court. Some of the trucks carrying charcoal that were impounded are still parked at our police stations.”

Deforestation

While there are still many trees in the country, deforestation is a major problem. In 2022, for instance, the International Monetary Fund said Uganda has lost nearly one-third of its tree cover over the past 20 years.

According to the Global Forest Watch report, Gulu District alone lost 38.7kha of tree cover, equivalent to a 6.2 percent decrease in tree cover from 2001 to 2021. The largest portion of the forest cover destroyed, the report adds, was for charcoal production and timber.

It is against the backdrop of such environmental concerns that President Museveni was compelled to sign only his third executive order, banning tree cutting for commercial charcoal production in northern Uganda.

The order followed complaints from local leaders in the region over the rising commercial charcoal production that has left natural forests degraded.

Cracking the whip

As a result, a conflict has cropped up between people who make charcoal, dealers and law enforcement agents. The National Forestry Authority (NFA) personnel and the Environmental Police Protection Unit (EPPU), for one, impounded 1,877 bags of charcoal in Acholi Sub-region on June 27. The charcoal was impounded at checkpoints in Akurukwe in Amuru District, Layibi in Gulu City, and Bobi in Omoro District.

The matter ended up at the Magistrate’s Court in Gulu where the suspects were charged with three counts of illegal transportation of forest produce contrary to sections 32(1), (a), and sections 34(1)&(2) of the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act 2003. They were summarily remanded to Gulu Main Prison.

The other charges that were preferred are illegal transportation and trade in forest products (charcoal) contrary to executive order No 3 issued by President Museveni and failure to comply with orders of an authorized person contrary to section 81(F) of the National Forestry Act.

Ms Mirian Atusasire, a charcoal dealer in Bushenyi Town, told Daily Monitor that the ban has hugely affected her.

“We’re running out of business. Our suppliers are no longer coming, and we may be forced to close shops and go home,” she said.

Mr Richard Byaruhanga, the Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality mayor, insists that the ban is well intentioned.

 “We don’t have many forests apart from Imaramagambo and Kasyoha Kitomi forest reserves,” he told this newspaper, adding, “Communities around those reserves planted their own forests to get firewood.”

Poverty

In Karamoja, leaders have raised a red flag over the absence of alternative means of survival for the people which has left many to resort to cutting tree cover for charcoal. The Sub-region is the poorest in the country.

Across the districts of Abim, Kotido, Kaabong, Karenga, or the southern districts of Napak, Moroto, Nabilatuk, Amudat and Nakapiripirit, sacks of charcoal are lined by the roadside.

The charcoal is then loaded on trucks and always destined for Busia, Mbale, and Kampala. In Karamoja, a bag of charcoal goes for between Shs15,000 and Shs 20,000.

Mr Samuel Lopejo, the LC1 chairperson for Iriiri Village, Iriiri Sub-county in Napak District, said it is from the charcoal burning that many earn a living.

“We hear of government poverty alleviation programmes but these projects have not reached us on the ground,” he said.

Mr Paul Komol Lote, Kotido LC5 chairperson, said: “The act of tree cutting has had a big effect on Kotido. It is even worse around the greenbelts. All the old trees there are gone, and no one knows when they will be replaced.”

He welcomed the government move to enforce a ban on charcoal burning, but requested that alternative means be offered.

Komol’s Moroto counterpart David Koryang said: “Early morning every day, people leave the mountains and from other areas of Tapac, Lotisan and Rupa with sacks of charcoal and in the evening get back with beans and maize flour after selling the charcoal.”

Energy scarcity

The ban has triggered a sharp rise in the price of charcoal in the West Nile Sub-region.

A charcoal dealer in Arua City, Ms Aselma Bako, said: “Since the signing of the charcoal Executive Order, the price has gone up. We used to buy a sack of charcoal at Shs32,000 and sell it at Shs38,000, but now we sell a sack of charcoal at Shs40,000.Besides the directives, National Forestry Authority enforcers are also on our neck. They impound our charcoal and at the end pay heavy fines.”

Mr George Asiku, a resident of Uleppi Trading Centre in Madi-Okollo District, said: “Government should get serious and waive taxes on gas and make it cheap so that people can use them. Charcoal and firewood remains cheap and affordable for families.”

In Apac, following the ban, traders are now devising other cunning means of doing business. They have now resorted to using boda boda to move their charcoal from villages to a collection centre. The charcoal is loaded on trucks at night and transported to Kampala.

 Compiled by Andrew Bagala, Bill Oketch, Felix Warom Okello, Milton Bandiho, Felix Ainebyoona, Clement Aluma, Tobbias Jolly Owiny, Simon Peter Emwamu, Robert Muhereza, Naume Biira & Julius Hafasha.

[email protected]