Govt considering a total ban on kavera

However, Dr Barirega Akankwasah, the executive director of the National Environment Authority (Nema), has said the government has moved to a total ban to follow the footsteps of other members  states of the East African Community (EAC).

“The government has recently expressed a policy reversal of phasing out, so we shall be working out a proposal to amend the law to completely eliminate single use carrier bags,” Dr Akankwasah told Sunday Monitor.

However, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the Information and Communication Technology and National Guidance minister, said the proposed amendments to the Nema Act are yet to be discussed at Cabinet level.

“Maybe Nema and the ministry are discussing it and working out the proposed amendments at their level before sending the matter to Parliament, but I would support it if it came to Cabinet. Kavera has become a very big environmental issue,” Dr Baryomunsi said.

If Uganda amends the Act, it will join other EAC member states, the lastest being Burundi.  In June last year, Burundi’s Environment minister, Mr Déo-Guide Rurema, brought forward a ban on plastic bags by six months.

Burundi initially announced the ban in August 2018. At that time, the government gave users 18 months to stop using the kavera, which the United Nations classifies as one of the biggest global environmental challenges of our time.

Justifying the need to expedite amendments to the Nema Act, Dr Akankwansah said some of its provisions make sustainable management of the environment practically impossible.

Challenges

Among the challenges are the difficulties in identifying the difference between the single use bags that are acceptable under the law and those that are not.

“The human eye cannot distinguish between what is above or below 30 microns. It is not possible, so you must take the bag to the laboratory to determine microns and the legality or illegality. We do this through the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics (UNBS), but what happens at night when UNBS is not there? People produce this (substandard) kavera and combine them with those above and put them in the market,” Dr Akankwasah explained.

He added that although Parliament had deemed single use plastic bags safe, there is nothing to back up the argument.

“There is no science or logic that those above 30 microns are safe. Recycling does not solve the problem because it does not give you the bag in its original form,” he said, adding: “The recycled bag will always be a weaker version. Those are the bags in which you put tomatoes and they tear before you reach your car.”

Renewed calls for a total ban come amid reports of an increase in the number of cases of cancer being reported in the country.  In October last year, Dr Nixon Niyonzima of the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), told this publication that the country has been registering at least 34,000 new cases of cancer per year.

He added that some of the cases are believed to have been caused by plastics, including the kavera.

Mr Joseph Ssemujju, an oncology nutritionist, attached to UCI told Sunday Monitor that polythene bags contain some carcinogenic components, which get activated once exposed to heat.

Carcinogens are, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute, substances or organisms or agents capable of causing cancer.

That means that those who consume food wrapped in polythene bags during the preparation stage or those that carry hot meals in such bags are at risk of getting cancer.

Dr Akankwasah said kaveras are also responsible for blocking drainage channels, pollution of water bodies, killing of livestock when they consume the bags, impairing the soils’ capacity to hold water as well as capacity to cause respiratory problems when burnt.

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