The order was issued yesterday, after a team from
the national environment watchdog conducted a surprise inspection inside
and outside the facility where it found that the liquid waste discharge
system of was in quandary.
“After a thorough inspection of your abattoir, we
have realised that you have failed to discharge liquid waste in a proper
manner and this, in terms health and environmental standards, is
unacceptable,” Lucy Lugusha, team leader from NEMC told the abattoir
owner, Philemon Mbereko.
The environment senior officer also said: “We have
come to the decision of closing down your abattoir and stop all
operations as from today (yesterday) and we will submit to you the order
in writing.”
Another NEMC senior environment officer, Jafar
Chimgege told the owner of the abattoir to explain efforts he had made
to address the complaints taken to his office by people residing in the
area regarding the waste water discharged from his facility and
channelled to a nearby water stream.
“I don’t remember the terms we agreed to work on,
however I know little on environmental management so I am willing to
receive advice from you on how I can improve the standards of my
facility,” Mbereko replied.
According to him, more than 300 cows are slaughtered daily, whereby 450,000/- is issued as service fee.
Ilala Municipal Authority collects 600,000/- as
levy and the veterinarian from Livestock and Fisheries ministry takes
another 150,000/-.
In December 2010 former Livestock and Fisheries
Development minister Dr Mathayo David directed Ilala municipal
authorities to ensure that infrastructure at the Vingunguti located
abattoir is fixed and the environment is improved as required by public
health laws.
He wondered why the municipal authorities had
failed to put in place necessary installations while the abattoir with
the capacity to slaughter 300 cattle a day generates more than 20m/- a
month.
The minister had also ordered that a standby generator be procured to pump water from a borehole during power rationing period.
He had also said that the DED must ensure
offloaders are purchased to supplement the existing four to bring about
efficiency and save time for meat supplying traders.
The minister had also ordered that toilets be
immediately constructed, saying, “This place is visited by more than
2,000 people daily, but it has no toilets to serve them.”
He had pointed out that health officers should wake
up and execute their duties professionally with more zeal, speed and
strength.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
No comments:
Post a Comment