Nemc closes down donkey meat plant

Dodoma. The National Environment Management Council (Nemc) has closed down a donkey meat processing plant in Dodoma over the latter’s failure to comply with environmental protection requirements.

The Nemc acting director general, Dr Vedast Makota, said in a notice yesterday that the decision came after several attempts to have the facility abide by environmental protection requirements proved futile.

He said the company had been warned several times but made no meaningful changes.

“Following this state of affairs and trend that has been nuisance to your neighbours and also creating some doubts in the quality of your products, the Nemc has reached a point of closing the facility,” reads the notice in part.

He said the closure was in line with Section 196 (2) of the Environmental Management Act, 2004.

The ‘Stop’ order means that the company will cease all its donkey processing operations until it undertakes and fully implements all the earlier directives issued to it by the Council.

The donkey processing facility is the property of a company known as Huwachen Company Limited.

The company has been at loggerheads with Nemc as well as with the minister of State in the Vice President’s Office (Environment and Union Affairs) since May, this year, when the then deputy minister in the Vice President’s Office (Union and Environment), Mr Kangi Lugola, toured the facility and expressed his dissatisfaction with its environmental conservation efforts.

The visit by Mr Lugola, who has since been appointed the Home Affairs minister, was followed by inspection by Nemc in August.

The inspection was meant to ascertain the level of environmental compliance in relation to the operations of activities being undertaken therein.