By The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) 5 Infantry Division has handed out impounded charcoal to households in Lira City, marking a fresh phase in the enforcement of President Yoweri Museveni’s ban on commercial charcoal burning in Northern Uganda.
The distribution, led by Division Commander Maj Gen Keith Katungi, involved charcoal seized during operations guided by the President’s Executive Order issued on May 19, 2023, in Baralegi Parish, Otuke District. The directive followed mounting complaints from district leaders over widespread environmental destruction driven by the booming charcoal trade.
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Security teams have so far intercepted more than 120 trucks transporting charcoal. The confiscated cargo had been stored at the Lira military barracks for months before the division leadership working with Lira Resident City Commissioner Egole Lawrence resolved to allocate it to vulnerable households.
Maj Gen Katungi said the operation is part of a broader national push to reverse the country’s worsening environmental decline. “Since 1960, more than 60 per cent of Uganda’s forest cover has been lost to charcoal burning and deforestation. This operation is meant to reverse that trend and protect the country’s future,” he said.
RCC Egole commended the UPDF for upholding professionalism throughout the enforcement exercise, noting that officers had rejected bribes from charcoal dealers attempting to flout the directive. He cautioned transporters and traders that vehicles impounded in future may be auctioned and owners prosecuted.
Authorities urged the public to take responsibility for safeguarding natural resources, warning that human activity continues to accelerate deforestation, environmental degradation and global warming.
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