Police have issued a directive to all territorial commanders to combat illegal export of timber and destructive charcoal production, dealing and transportation with immediate effect.
According to the Force’s spokesperson, Fred Enanga the directive is in line with the presidential ban on the unsustainable harvesting of trees for timber and veneer exports.
In the May 24 executive order No.3, President Museveni guided that only Factories processing timber within Uganda for production of plywood, furniture and other value-added products, should be allowed to operate but with sustainable tree planting and harvesting plans.
Enanga noted that the police’s joint task team will be targeting noncompliant dealers, who will try to skirt the Presidential directive.
The presidential ban on charcoal burning, dealing and transportation has since caused energy scarcity and subsequent hike in the prices of cooking energy, especially charcoal in most of the urban centres, with the asking price for a sack of charcoal heaped to full capacity in Kampala increasing from Shs80, 000 to Shs160, 000.
