As always, there is something nonsensical that captivates the Ugandan public, especially on social media to the extent of going viral.
We love gossip and gossip loves idle and gullible Ugandans. Over the past week or so, it emerged that government entered into one of the worst-ever deals to lease off vehicle number plates production.
What’s more, the elephant in the room is the spiraling fall of the shilling! But everything just seems to be normal. Yeah…the number plates Gordon Wavamunno used to provide for just Shs 100,000 are now costed at Shs 720,000.
And everything is supposed to be normal because they are ‘digital numberplates.’ We really are a nation of jokers. As a result, hundreds of billions have been lost in this scheme. But just as the public comes to terms with the extent of the loss, a totally uncalled-for battle emerged regarding spiritual miracles to divert us.
For some reason, there was a declaration of a charcoal ban across the country. Charcoal became the sin as if charcoal is the devil that ate our forests. Subsequent communications from state agencies have appeared to reverse the ban but the damage has been done and the Gashumba-Pr Kayanja distraction has been effective to some extent.
The charcoal business, although greatly despised, is an employer to over a million Ugandans through different stages of production. So, ask yourself, who stands to lose and who doesn’t need to care about the charcoal ban?
When you reverse the roles to the people dealing in charcoal, the question is; who will ban hunger? Who will ban the landlord? Who will ban the school fees? You want to ban charcoal when fuel, electricity, petroleum prices are skyrocketing against the dollar?
Well, this timing is a perfect smokescreen for the Gashumba battle with Pentecostals. A sack of charcoal costs between Shs 80,000 to Shs 120,000. Painful! When it comes to gas, it costs about Shs 350,000 for a 13kg cylinder plus another Shs 160,000 to refill it every few months.
Amidst all this, where does one get the audacity to tell Mama Nalongo who is roasting gonja by the roadside? Charcoal is not luxury in Uganda. Charcoal is survival. You cannot ban survival without giving people life options.
THE LIE WE TELL OURSELVES WHILE TREES CRY
Yes, forests are going. Buddu forests that were thick like hair in the 80s are now bald. The crime is we planted trees and we sell them young without value. A man plants eucalyptus and two years later school fees knocks hard; he cuts everything for charcoal.
Two years, no timber value. Just black dust. So, we are here looking at 10 acres that could have fetched Shs 200m in 10 years but was sold at Shs 2m in two years because poverty is impatient.
Poverty cannot wait for trees to grow. Going back to my gist of the article, the Gashumba’s wave or distraction keeps you at crossroads sleeping in slumbering, asking yourself why God punishing the poor for being poor while big men cook on gas imported duty-free?
Simple logic suggests that if you want to ban charcoal, first bring the gas price down. Bring electricity costs down. In the best-case scenario, we can actually benchmark from the best practices.
In Rwanda, for example, one cannot cut natural forest for charcoal. But if you planted your own forest on your hill, you can make charcoal with license, with improved kiln that gives 40 per cent more charcoal from same wood. Result? Trees stayed. Charcoal stayed. People ate.
Environment safe. Even in Kenya, particularly in Kibera, in Kisumu, women groups make charcoal without cutting one tree. How? They use maize cobs, coffee husks, sugarcane bagasse, sawdust, banana peelings. In all this, we don’t need charcoal ban.
WAY FORWARD
So, whoever proposed the charcoal ban should have started with the alternatives. Subsidize gas like you subsidize fuel for government cars. Remove tax on gas cylinders and pressure cookers. Give households an improved stove for free like it is done with mosquito nets.
License charcoal from private forests. Ban cutting natural forests but promote private forest charcoal. From a practical perspective, government should enlighten the public to prune and not cut trees.
People should be aware that if you plant 10 trees for every sack you burn for charcoal, you would actually save the environment. Besides, there are improved Sigiris, the one with clay inside that keeps heat. What’s more, make briquettes from your own waste banana peelings, coffee husks, cassava peels. Do I really need to ask for more?
The author is an investor, contractor, and football enthusiast.