Police in Aswa River Region have warned former Aruu County legislator Samuel Odonga Otto against taking matters into his own hands by intercepting trucks loaded with charcoal illegally.
Otto launched a campaign against illegal charcoal trade in the region early last month and has since been intercepting charcoal trucks in the area.
Videos of the former legislator went viral last month, in which he appeared to deflate a truck loaded with charcoal on March 8, 2023. In another video, he is seen inciting locals to loot charcoal from a truck on March 28, 2023.
These events occurred in Amuru and Pader districts. The police have stated that although the Ministry of Environment has banned the commercial production and transportation of charcoal within the Acholi Sub-region, it does not warrant Otto to take the law into his own hands.
The Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson, David Ongom Mudong, told journalists at a press briefing on Tuesday in Gulu City that the former legislator’s actions are illegal.
He says that Otto should have followed the correct procedures by informing the Environmental Police and National Forestry Authority, who are mandated to fight environmental crimes.
Last week, locals looted a total of 380 bags of charcoal worth 24.7 million shillings from one of the trucks intercepted by Otto along the Kitgum-Pader road in Pader District.
According to Mudong, a complaint of theft of charcoal has since been registered at Pader Central Police Station by one of the charcoal dealers, Rashid Buwembo, a businessman in Kikaya zone in Kisasi Kampala, about the looting.
He says the Police have opened an investigation into the act, adding that they are considering summoning Otto to answer the allegations.
Mudong says that while Otto is trading in a campaign to curb the charcoal vice, he has never reported the culprits or their illegal business to the police for a formal investigation
Otto, however, denies any wrongdoing and instead accuses the police of conniving with charcoal dealers to aid the transportation of their products, despite a ban on the movement of forest products in the region.
He also faults the government for issuing a directive without any budgetary allocation to facilitate the Environmental Police in implementing the ban, something that has prompted civilians to take up action.
Otto has since formed Ribbe Pi Paco (RPP), an environmental youth advocacy and activism group working to implement the Ministry of Environment's ban on commercial trade, production, and transportation of charcoal and forest products.
He notes that while they have started by intercepting and impounding illegal charcoal, the campaign is not sustainable, adding that they will embark on sensitization of all LCIs, and cultural and religious leaders in the region on the ban.
