UGX 50 million abattoir lies idle in Omoro town council

Omoro, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Butchers in Omoro Town Council have rejected an abattoir over the appalling state of the facility.

In 2018, the Town Council allocated 50 Million Shillings and constructed a modern slaughterhouse at Opit Central Ward and later officially handed it over to the butchers in December, the same year.

Samuel Ogwang, one of the butchers explains that currently, they have abandoned the facility on grounds that it lacks toilets, a clean water source and a security fence to safeguard them against health hazards.

The butchers argue that while the authorities were commissioning the facility, they pledged to fence it for safety precautions especially for the safety of animals waiting to be slaughtered and also construct proper toilet but to no avail.

Omoro Town Council Butchers’ Association Chairperson, Daniel Oyaru says that they have resolved to convene a meeting to address their grievances. He revealed that individual butchers are now slaughtering animals from their homes. 

When URN reporter visited the facility, there was no water, the roof was leaking, latrines dilapidated and the facility was not fenced.

David Orach, a resident of the area is concerned that the continued standoff between the butchers and town council authorities has led to the selling of un-inspected meat, posing great health risks to the consumers. 

However, David Opwonya the Town Clerk refuted claims that the abattoir is short of the required standards.  He, however, accused the butchers of being stubborn and disobedient, a practice he warned might attract reprimand.

A 2017 standard policy drafted by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), requires proper construction of butchery or any other premise where foodstuffs or animals are sold for human consumption.

Among the proposed UNBS standards includes the construction of every butchery that conforms to the smooth and easy to clean food-grade surface; separate area for the handling of offals, glass partitions to separate customers from the area where meat is cut or displayed and main walls of the premises to be constructed of waterproof and washable material among others.

The butchery floor shall be made of impermeable material, sloped with curved corners to allow wash water into a soak pit outside the premises, every such drain and soak pit shall be closed to the open air and protected against access by any animal or human being, but many butcheries are short of these.

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