FEATURE

SATURDAY VISION
June 18, 2016

11

Poisoned quietly
on Lake Victoria
Bugala Island, once cut off from the rest of the world and a haven for
monkeys, is now plied by a ferry, boats and roads have been improved.
The island also has electricity, clean water and farmers are reaping
big from palm oil. However, amid this, there is a double-edged sword
which no one seems to notice. The pesticides which protect crops and
animals are exposing the population to health hazards. Huge quantities
of pesticides used in Bugala are poorly disposed of, thereby posing a
danger to the public, Gerald Tenywa discovers more to it

Do you ever stop to wonder about

the chemicals in your-day-to-day life?
What is in the water you drink, food
you eat or even the air you breathe?
How exposed are you to the chemicals
used in preserving the food you eat?
Moses Kibalama found residents
of Kagulube in Bugala, Kalangala
district, fetching drinking water in
containers that were previously used
to pack pesticides and herbicides for
spraying palm trees. At the residence
of Ronald Ndikugimana, a worker at
an outgrower palm oil plantation, the
water from a jerrycan that was once
used to pack Paraquat, was used for
cooking food. Paraquat is a dangerous
agro-chemical.
I have used the water from this
jerrycan for the last 10 years, but
I have never got any problem,
Ndikugimana told Saturday Vision.
He is oblivious of the dangers that
come with such containers that have
residues of agro-chemicals.
According to Dr David Ogaram,
a toxicologist, the containers are
contaminated with residues of
pesticides that could become toxic to
the human body in the long run.
The residues could accumulate in
the body and later strike in form of a
cancer, Ogaram said. He warns that
contaminated containers should not
be used to store anything for human
or animal consumption. Using a
contaminated container is similar to
slow killing poison.
The misuse of chemicals on the
palm oil plantation, which sits on
10,000 of Bugalas 29,000 hectares,
could be courting trouble for the
island. The palm oil outgrowers who
cover 3,500 hectares on the island, are
said to misuse chemicals during the
spraying. The practice of using trash
containers is common among workers
of Oil Palm Uganda Limited (OPUL).
OPUL is a sister company to BIDCO.
There are fears that the threat to
human health and the environment
could spread across the country given
that the workers are from different
parts of Mbale, Kasese and West Nile.
Palm oil growing is set to expand
to Buvuma Islands on Lake Victoria,
while other areas suitable for palm
oil growing are the Rwenzori regions.
Politicians have asked President
Yoweri Museveni to expand this
scheme under the wealth creation
programme to northern Uganda.
n DANGERS OF PARAQUAT
Over time, paraquat could affect the
lungs, nervous system, the brain, skin

and reproductive system. It could pose

birth defects and impact childrens
brain growth, according to the
Pesticide Action Network in the UK.
There are also ecological effects,
according to the activists network.
The rampant use of paraquat results
into contamination and pollution
of local water system, fish loss, soil
degradation, death of wild animals,
insect resistance and the degradation
of flora and fauna.
The use of paraquat has a negative
impact in the ecological balance of
both aquatic and agro-ecological
systems, stated the report of the
Pesticide Action Network.
n POOR STORAGE
Other routes of contamination come
as a result of poor storage of the
chemicals, where pesticides are stored
in the same house with food left
overnight. The crawling insects and
straying rodents such as rats keep
running over the pesticides and then
where food is stored. The food is eaten
during breakfast the following day.
The danger in the contaminated
containers is concealed because the
chemicals do not terminate lives
immediately, James Saku, a bodaboda
rider at Luku landing site, Bugala
said. People do not care about things
that are not going to affect them
immediately.
He also pointed out that public
healthcare systems have weaknesses
because many people do not go for
medical checkups and so tracking
health challenges remains poor.
n INDISCRIMINATE SPRAYING
Apart from using the trash chemical
containers, the outgrowers spray
the chemicals indiscriminately on
the palm oil plantations without any
training or protective wear. So, as they
spray, the farmers inhale chemical
particles. This exposes them to
poisoning.
It is not easy to monitor the

activities of the outgrowers, Maurice

Bafirawala, the district environment
officer for Kalangala, said. He said
even when they are advised, in
many cases, the farmers ignore the
authorities.
According to a source who did not
want to be named, the chemicals used
in OPUL plantations sometimes are
stolen and end up in the hands of the
local small holder farmers.
The chemical problem goes beyond
awareness.
We earn as little as sh3,700 per day,
which is not enough to buy food and
other essential items, a worker said.
He pointed out that they cannot throw
away the containers when it saves the
cost of buying another.
n UNCO-ORDINATED EFFORTS
Without proper monitoring on
the disposal of the containers, the
chemicals also find their way into the
environment.
When Kalangala embraced the oil
palm enterprise about a decade ago,
the residents on Bugala Island were
excited. They looked at the prospects
of employment, access to electricity
and an economic boom.
Bugala is the largest of the 84
islands which form Ssese Islands in
the northwestern part of Lake Victoria,
and has a population of 60,000
people.
The road network and peoples
livelihood have been improved,
according to a report from the
National Environment Management
Authority (NEMA). But the improved
socio-economic conditions on Bugala
have come at a cost.
We warned district leaders about
the dangers, but they could not
listen, Richard Kimbowa, the head
of Uganda Coalition for Sustainable
Development said, adding that Bugala
stands to lose a lot if the measures in
the Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) study are not implemented.
Kimbowa added: We are destroying

OPUL destroys containers

The environment officer under OPUL said used containers are not
supposed to be reused. They burn them at the company premises
in order to stop the workers and the community from re-using
them. But he pointed out that the out growers scheme is not
under their control. He said the district authorities on environment
and agriculture were supposed to curb the use of contaminated
containers.

A contaminated jerricans used in domestic work. Photo by Gerald Tenywa

ourselves unless we put in place what
we promised to do in the EIA.
Asked about the extent to which
NEMA has made the lake safe
from pollution, Dr. Tom Okurut, the
exexcutive director NEMA, referred
the writer to the directorate of water
resources nanagement (DWRM) at
Entebbe.
As much as Dr Callist Tindimugaya,
a commissioner in charge of DWRM
appreciated that there is need to
undertake an environment audit
on OPULs activities, he said the
agriculture ministry was responsible
for monitoring OPUL.
Tindimugaya pointed out that oil
palm production falls in the docket
of the agriculture ministry, so they
are supposed to monitor OPUL. The
agriculture ministry was falling short
of the expectations, Tindimugaya
said.
Dr. Okaasai Opolot, the director
in charge of crop resources in the
agriculture ministry, said technical
experts led by Connie Masaba were
overseeing the activities of BIDCO
and OPUL.
Masaba said they believe in
continuous improvement and that
they were going to teach people
about the dangers of misusing the
chemicals.
I did not know about the practice of
using trash containers to collect water,
but we are going to investigate this
matter, Masaba told Saturday Vision.
It is good that you have brought it to
our attention.
She also pointed out that there is
need to create awareness among
the farmers groups, so that they
undertake self-regulation to ensure
safe application of the chemicals.
n DISTRICT UNBOTHERED
The Kalangala district environment
officer, Maurice Bafirawala, said OPUL

is supposed to submit environmental

reports to the district, but they created
an impression that they are in touch
with NEMA and the district officials
do not matter.
NEMA is supposed to co-ordinate
Government departments and the
local government to ensure that
OPULs activities are monitored.
NEMA has been trying but it also
has limits, said a source who did not
want to be named.
Without proper monitoring, the
chemicals could be leaking into the
environment. This and the rampant
misuse of the containers is taking a
toll on the environment and human
health.
The chemical has already claimed
the life of a three-year-old boy, Khalid
Mumwata, of Bbeta workers camp
under OPUL. The boy mistook the
chemical for a beverage and drank it.
It is believed that the chemical may
have been stolen from BIDCO and
ended up in Mumwatas home. After
the incident, government authorities,
including the Police did a follow-up
on the matter.
The poisoning case was mentioned
in a recent inspection led by state
minister for environment, Flavia
Munaba at Bugala. Munaba, put the
palm oil company to task to explain
the circumstances surrounding the
poisoning of the child.
It was an unfortunate incident and
measures have been taken to ensure
that it does not happen again, said
Richard Ssenkoza, the environment
officer for OPUL.
Such cases that either remain
unreported or where government
institutions fail to take punitive action
exposes workers and the environment
to pollution. Who will bring OPUL to
order so that Bugala gets the promised
economic boom without hurting
people and the environment?