Aduku Council Boss Warns Boda-Boda Riders

ADUKU – Obaya Keny James, the town clerk of Aduku Town Council, has told boda-boda riders that their life of pleasures must be tempered with caution.

He said their knack for lavish spending on booze and betting will only keep them trapped in poverty.

Speaking to theCooperator recently, Obaya said a sweeping none-tax compliance crackdown on May 25 impounded over 100 motorbikes in the town center for failing to remit the annual operational license fees.

“We have impounded 103 boda-boda motorcycles in a massive operation targeting riders who have failed to pay the annual operational license fee of Shs 70,000 for the last two years. How can a boda-boda rider who makes about Shs 50,000 a day fail to pay the annual subscription of Shs 70,000? Let them stop living luxurious lifestyles and be responsible,” he said in an interview.

He said on average, the Aduku Town Council has lost more than Shs 100 million in unpaid taxes.

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“During the last financial year 2019/2020, Aduku Town Council collected only Shs 50.3 million in local revenue out of the projected Shs 156 million (about 34.0%). This has greatly affected service delivery,” he said.

Aduku Town Council Vice Chairman Peter Otim said a number of council activities have been put off due to poor local revenue compliance. Although many businesses were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, Otim asked the business fraternity to pay local government taxes in order to improve on service delivery.

“I am appealing to the business fraternity, endeavor to pay the local taxes as this would enable the urban authority to manage garbage and generally improve on service delivery,” he noted.

Margaret Adero, a member of Kwania Boda-Boda Riders’ Association, said the Covid-19 induced lockdown has negatively impacted the boda-boda industry. “Even if we get these motorbikes out, we wouldn’t make money from them. Boda-bodas have just resumed operation and we should be given time to recover from the Covid-19 negative effects,” she said.

The Chairperson Kwania Boda Boda Motorcyclists Association, Walter Opyene described the crackdown as ‘untimely.’ He argued that during the Covid-19 induced lockdown, boda-boda riders were restricted and hardly made any money. He argued that the government should organize the sector and help boda-boda operators diversify into other economic activities like agriculture.

“We have multi-purpose boda-boda cooperatives and if they (government) can give us money, we can engage in other economic ventures like agriculture, so that we don’t have to only rely on riding boda-bodas for a living, which is difficult to survive on currently,” Opyene said.

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Cattle Rustling Derails Farming In Lamwo

LAMWO – Cattle rustling has soared in Agoro Sub County, Lamwo District. It has diminished the oxen herd and subsequently frustrated commercial farming in the area.

Francis Todwong, the LC-I chairman of Tumanun village in Agoro Sub County, said several farmers are unable to plough their land because there are very few oxen and tractors.

“People used to rely a lot on oxen to plough their land but the animals have now been stolen by rustlers who invade villages in Agoro Sub County nearly every week,” he said recently.

Todwong said farmers in his village now use one tractor from the neighboring Palabek Gem Sub County.

“Due to the high demand for the tractor, the owner has also increased the rental fees from Shs 80,000 to Shs 100,000 per acre. We need more tractors to help us open land,” he said.

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But members of Agoro Self-Help Irrigation Cooperative Society in Agoro Sub County are lucky. In 2020, they were given a tractor by the National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS), a statutory semi-autonomous body under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).

Allan Ocaya, the chairperson of the cooperative, said members hire the tractor at Shs 80,000 while none-members get it at Shs 90,000 to plough an acre of land.

Ocaya, a victim of cattle rustling, said he lost two oxen and a dairy cow three years ago to rustlers. He said one ox was recovered by security personnel who pursued the thieves.

“People fear using oxen to plough their land because it’s no longer safe to use them. You have to get security men to guard you as you plough, otherwise, the South Sudanese rustlers who are always armed come and grab them in broad daylight,” he said.

Ocaya said the entire sub county is served by four tractors, which according to him, are not enough to meet the demand of over 6,000 farmers spread out in four parishes.

Cyrus Komakech, the Lamwo District agriculture officer, told theCooperator that cattle rustling has greatly affected land opening, multiplication of cattle and traditional marriage.

“Cattle rustlers do not discriminate during their raids. They take any animal they find including bulls and heifers. This has made it difficult for farmers to open large acres of land for cultivation,” he said.

“The heifers, which farmers would have used to multiply animals, are also targeted by the rustlers,” he said.

Statistics provided by the Lamwo Resident District Commissioner, James Nabinson Kidega Nok, show that over 3,200 cattle were stolen in 2020 from Lamwo District by Karimojong and South Sudanese.

The animals were stolen from the two sub counties of Agoro and Madi-Opei, which border South Sudan and Karamoja.

Kidega said 3,000 cattle were recovered while 200 are yet to be recovered.

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Heavy Rains Worry Cassava Farmers

PADER – The unrelenting heavy rains battering Pader District are threatening to wipe out the livelihoods of cassava farmers in the northern district.

Cassava farmers allied to Acholi- bur Cooperative Society in Pader district are worried their crop will rot in the ground.

Farmers say when the rains started many had not uprooted their cassava from the farmlands.

“We cannot uproot now, the rains are too much and we have no better provisions for drying it so that it is sold,” Robert Okumu, the chairman of Acholi Bur Cooperative society, told theCooperator in a recent interview.

There are cassava varieties that last for only one and half years under the ground and if not uprooted in time, they rot, Okumu said.

Cassava is the biggest income earner for the cooperative farmers and if it’s not harvested in time, Okumu says, his people will lose millions of shillings.

The 600-member cooperative also grows soya-beans and groundnuts.

David Ogutu, a member of the cooperative, said the seasonal market is partly to blame.

“Imagine we are depending on only one buyer, that is Bukona Agro Processors, but if we had other factories in the region, we would have a choice. ” he said.

“The rains are too much and we do not have better technology for drying cassava at the moment. Some farmers got loans and one wonders how they will be able to pay back,” he said.

“We have reached out to the district leadership and discussed how best they can lobby and get for us drying machines that can help in the rainy season but we haven’t gotten any positive response,” he added.

Alfred Abaloker, the District Commercial Officer, said his office has lobbied but failed to get the Ministry of Agricultural and Animal Industry to help the farmers.

“It’s a big challenge to the farmers but my office cannot handle it alone. We requested for a machine that can help them (farmers) have their cassava dried during the rainy season so that they don’t incur losses but we have never been helped.” he said.

“We were given only tractors so that farmers can open big chunks of land,” he said.

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