After being tipped off by the district councilor representing Awach Sub County, the RDC for Gulu district staged an operation on Tuesday on trucks suspected of trafficking charcoal and confiscated a Fuso Truck from Gulu traveling towards Awach Sub County headquarters.
Gulu deputy resident district commissioner James Cosmas Okidi stated that when they arrived at the scene, the villagers had already begun raiding the charcoal, leaving the truck with a few sucks and residue where the suspected business people had fled.
As a result, they asked the District police commander to transport the Fuso vehicle to the central police station and track down the offenders for prosecution, as directed by Hon. Minister for Presidency Milly Babalanda in her letter.
“After we mounted the vehicle, the owners and suspected business people fled, and we ordered the DPC to ferry the truck to the police station, where we are still holding it,” Okidi explained.
According to James Cosmas, the Gulu District deputy residence district commissioner, they have initiated an operation after holding multiple radio talk shows to inform the population about the president’s executive directives.
“We did not just start the currying operation; we started by sensitizing the community on the executive orders that were sent by the president; we used several platforms such as radio talk shows, community engagement, and other platforms to let our community know the dangers of cutting down trees to make charcoal,” Okidi added.
He began by pushing locals to use the second rain to plant trees in order to generate energy while simultaneously combating the region’s severe drought.
“We started encouraging people to use this second rain to plant trees for energy and also to help gather rainfall, which is becoming a problem in the region,” DRDC said.
Okidi warned that no one should continue ferrying charcoal from the area because they are well equipped to carry out the president’s executive orders.
His Excellency the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Tibahabura Museveni, recently issued Executive Order Number 3 of 2023 prohibiting all bulk charcoal sales throughout the country.