Govt official in hot soup over meat ban in Kampala
A butcher cuts meat at the City Abattoir in Kampala on December 21, 2023. Thousands of jobs and livelihoods are in peril following government’s, as yet, unannounced ban on the trade in meat throughout Kampala to stem the spread of a deadly animal disease. PHOTO/FRANK BAGUMA
What you need to know:
- The Cabinet has reportedly questioned the Commissioner of Animal Health in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) after she issued a directive imposing a quarantine in Kampala City after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) without consulting other concerned government ministries.
The Cabinet has reportedly questioned the Commissioner of Animal Health in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) after she issued a directive imposing a quarantine in Kampala City after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) without consulting other concerned government ministries.
On March 1, 2024, Dr Anna Rose Ademun wrote a letter to the executive director of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to impose a quarantine after an incident of FMD was detected at Kabowa in Rubaga Division on February 28.
The quarantine was not enforced after the political leadership objected to the findings from the Agriculture ministry.
Efforts to get a comment from the Minister of ICT and National Guidance were futile as his known mobile phone number was switched off. In the Cabinet meeting chaired by President Museveni, the Agriculture ministers reportedly said they had not been consulted by their commissioner before she sent the letter to KCCA.
A source privy to the meeting said Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja asked Dr Ademun to apologise to the Cabinet for her actions.
However, the Animal Diseases Act gives powers to the commissioner of livestock and entomology, and inspectors to impose a quarantine.
President Museveni reportedly demanded answers as to why the Ministry of Agriculture had delayed to deliver FMD vaccines yet the farmers in the quarantined districts continue to suffer.
Last February, the government ordered the importation of 10 million FMD vaccines in the country.
The government maintains the monopoly of importing FMD vaccines in Uganda although it doesn’t allocate enough funds to procure the number of doses needed to cover the entire country.
It can only procure FMD vaccines that cover 1.1 percent of the animals they wish to vaccinate.
The Cabinet learnt that Uganda was getting FMD vaccines from a Southern African country but the experts blamed the delay on suppliers.
On Monday, the State Minister for Animal Industry, Mr Bright Rwamirama, wrote to the Minister of Kampala City, Ms Minsa Kabanda, halting the enforcement of the quarantine in Kampala City on grounds that the FMD incident was an isolated one.
“City abattoirs operating in non-affected areas/sub-counties should continue operating to receive non-affected animals, as long as they don’t come from or through affected areas,” Mr Rwamirama wrote.
The quarantining of Kampala City has serious economic consequences for farmers around the country since it is the main destination of all their products. The five biggest abattoirs in Uganda are based in Kampala City and most of their products are distributed for export and domestic consumption in the city outskirts. This means that the larger western part of the country that depends on livestock farming was going to have no market for their products for more than a month.
Last month, Members of Parliament from the cattle corridor complained about the FMD quarantine in their districts that has left farmers in untold losses and debts.
