Illegal charcoal trade booming in northern Uganda amid ban

Following the recent ban on charcoal burning and trade in northern and eastern Uganda by the President, traders have now devised other cunning means of running the illegal business.
On May 19,  President Museveni issued Executive Order No 3 of 2023, banning charcoal burning and charcoal business in northern and eastern Uganda.
The move is aimed at bringing to an end the massive cutting down of trees for charcoal.
Several weeks after the Executive Order was issued, however, the charcoal trade is still booming. 
Some traders have now resorted to using boda bodas to transport sacks of charcoal from villages to a store where it is then loaded on trucks for transportation to Kampala and Mbale districts.
Mr Ronald Omara, a charcoal trader in Akokoro Sub-county, Apac District, said many people who have been surviving on charcoal business, have now lost their source of livelihood.
“Now that the government has banned the charcoal trade, I don’t know how we are going to feed our families. One of us was injured when he was trying to evade arrest recently,” he said.
He appealed to the government to provide an alternative source of livelihood for the people affected by the ban.
“Before putting this ban, the government should have come up with other alternatives for the charcoal traders,” he added.
Mr James Ojara, a resident of Omoro Town Council in Omoro District, said the price of charcoal shot up just a few days after the ban was announced.
“A bag of charcoal is now being sold at Shs30,000 up from Shs 20,000 and it’s very difficult to find it. So, that has already increased the cost of living,” he said.
Mr Ojara added:  “Very few people can access gas and briquettes because they are expensive and the majority have been using charcoal. Some people don’t even know about briquettes as an alternative source of cooking energy,” he said.
Gulu, Amuru, Pader and Nwoya districts in Acholi Sub-region which still have large forest coverage are now the hotspot for charcoal burning.
Mr Darius Okello Akol, the LC3 chairman of Minakulu Town Council, accused security personnel of protecting some charcoal traders .
“There is a place here where they rented and they load from here and there is nothing I can do about it because this charcoal business seems to be for the high-handed people. Sometimes you find trucks being escorted by the soldiers,” he said. “I think the President is the best person to take action or our Members of Parliament should take action.” 
Mr William Komakech, the Oyam resident district commissioner, said the district is an exit route for smuggled charcoal from the Acholi Sub-region.
“Oyam has so many vehicles passing by international and local traders and you would not know the content of what these trucks are carrying. So, this makes it very difficult to implement,” he said.
Mr David Ongom Mudong, the Aswa Region police spokesperson, on Sunday called for  mass sensitisation.