Industrial pollution in Tororo: There is a need for policy actions

OPINION

Dr. Josue Okoth

In a series of articles published in a local publication on November 21, Juma A. Okuku, a Makerere University lecturer, discussed whether Uganda can successfully be industrialised. He stated that "Industrialisation has become the buzzword in Uganda's development and Government policy circles.

It is as well claimed that Uganda is at take-off stage! What is not explained is how industrialisation could occur, what it takes to industrialise, issues of policy and the institutional context for its successful realisation.

He described industrialisation as a ‘Complex of social and economic change whereby a human group if transformed from a pre-industrial society into an industrial one. It can change people's perception of nature'.

This article is intended to raise a level of public debates. There is no doubt that industrialisation is central to development of economy of any country.

We can do things more efficiently, but the cost of this efficiency may cost our well-being. Industrial growth has made water, air and hazardous waste environmental problems.

The biggest problem is lack of hazardous waste facilities, so industrial wastes are often discarded in fallow or public land, in rivers or sewers.

Take Tororo, for example, as you enter it from Jinja, from around eight and a half miles to Tororo, you will find huge heaps of soil dumped along the road and in swamps. This dumping goes on along the road for several kilometers.

At a small trading centre called Akapa, the soil is heaped all along behind shops. Huge tippers are used.

Excavation is around Mile 8 but nobody knows what is going on since it is fenced off. They don't have where to dispose of the soil.

At Tororo Cement Factory (CI), as you approach from all directions, you will be greeted by cloud of white dust, which can cover several kilometers, especially if assisted by wind.

All trees along the road are literally coated with this dust. Along the wall fence of the factory are small gardens of cabbages, pineapple, pumpkins and cassava all coated with white dust.

On the opposite side of the road, there are shops selling meat, food products and other consumables.

People live behind these shops. Also opposite to the factory is a boarding school with over 1,000 students. Constant air pollution is affecting the quality of human lives. A river below the factory has since dried long time ago.

On Busia road, about 15KM from Tororo town, there is the newly opened factory for the Guangzhou Dongsong. This industrial complex will reportedly produce organic fertilizers, glass, steel, among others.

The New Vision of October 24, reported that, "The industrial complex is home to a phosphate plant, which will be the largest organic fertilizer factory in East Africa, with capacity to produce 300,000 tonnes of organic fertilizers annually.

Unlike chemical fertilizers which are man-made using nutrient compound formulations, organic fertilizers are formed from decomposing animal waste.

Chemical fertilizers are usually considered unsafe, organic fertilizers provide a universal package of nutrients of soils and are considered harmless". However, at the factory, we see rocks being taken to factory.

We do not see any animals around or their decomposing by-products. Bellow the factory there is a swamp which connects to Malaba River. We see papyrus being uprooted with soil and taken to the factory.

Also along the swamps, fish ponds are being constructed. The investors seem to have blank cheque.  

In the 1960s and 70s, when Tororo Industry Chemical Fertilizer (TICAF) was producing phosphate fertilizer, most of it was being sold to Kenya.

Uganda with its natural fertility did not need fertilizer and in fact the Government at the time discouraged the use of fertilizers. The use of fertilizer reported worth 1.6 trillion has surprised me and where in Uganda was it used?

The scale of environmental and health problems from industrialization in Uganda will depend greatly on policy actions today.

Massive pollution by industries today is largely due to greed of investors. There seems to be no clear policies to deal with environmental hazards caused by industries. 

There is a need for research alongside industrial development. Fauna in the surrounding water bodies should be sampled regularly as a method of assessing pollution.  For instance, Padmaja Nair reported that in Pennsylvania river basin there is a growing population of mutated fish.

Male fish have female parts and vice versa and this is attributed to pollution. Every industry should have a self-monitoring and reporting mechanism on pollution.

The Ministry responsible for industries should develop a multi-disciplinary body consisting of NEMA, NARO and other development partners to develop a SMART tool, which eventually can raise the level of environmental awareness leading to measures towards minimising waste and controlling industrial pollution.

 Industries can also be scattered in the country instead of lumping them together. The arguments that industries should be built at the site of row materials to reduce cost does not hold water.

The value of life should override it. For instance, Tororo Cement, Hima cement and Simba Cement Industries in Tororo do not get their raw materials from Tororo. Our Cotton and Coffee raw materials are processed in Europe.

I fear this congestion of industries in Tororo without proper waste management will see the environment completely collapsed and (God forbid) may lead to extinction of the Jopadholas and the Itesos in less than 50 years; those who survive will be pushed to neighboring tribes to be assimilated into those tribes.

Finally, European history teaches us that the rise of materialism and consumerism which are the outcomes of industrialization weakened a traditional understanding of religion and had profound effect on personal identities, the legacy of which is much alive today.

Today in Uganda, especially the youth, do not go to Church on Sundays because these factories operate on Sundays.

Dr. Okoth is a Concerned Citizen and Christian