Former Aruu County member of Parliament and self-proclaimed environmental activist Samuel Odonga Otto has been charged with aggravated robbery and theft of charcoal.
Otto surrendered himself to the Aswa River Region Police Headquarters in Gulu City on Monday morning, and after hours of recording statements, he was released on police bond.
Last week, Otto and a group of vigilantes were accused of severely injuring three charcoal businessmen, looting money, and vandalizing their vehicle in Atanga Sub-county, Pader District.
Otto’s lawyer, Tony Kitara told journalists that his client had been charged with two counts of aggravated robbery of Shillings 1.1 million in Atanga Sub-county and one count of theft for stealing 380 bags of charcoal in Angagura Sub-county.
Otto was also cautioned after completion of witness statement taking before being granted police bond.
Kitara believes that the charges are meant to intimidate his client, who is lawfully implementing a government ban on the commercial production and trade of charcoal in the Acholi Sub-region.
Otto told journalists after his release that he smells local politics at play against him since all the charges are emanating from Pader District despite carrying out his campaigns in other areas of the Acholi Sub-region.
As environmentalists, Otto and his team plan to hold meetings with the government to work together and champion the ban against illegal commercial charcoal production and trade.
He urged vigilantes in the region to avoid taking the law into their hands by beating or torturing suspected illegal charcoal dealers.
Otto and his team also plan to petition the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) to charge the three complainants who have openly admitted to being commercial charcoal businessmen, which is in contravention of Section 157 of the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) Act.
Damali Nachuha, the Aswa River Region Police Commander, expects Otto to follow the law now that he has been given a police bond and is expected to report back at the Aswa River Region Police headquarters on May 17.
Otto launched a controversial campaign against illegal commercial charcoal businesses in the region in February this year. This was after the Environment Ministry banned all districts in Acholi Sub-region from issuing documents facilitating the commercial production, trade, and transportation of charcoal.
The growing commercial charcoal business in the region over the years has resulted in a drastic decline of the natural tree covers, with environmentalists worrying that the trend could leave the region bare in the future.
According to the Global Forest Watch report, the Gulu district alone lost 38.7kha of tree cover, equivalent to a 6.2 percent decrease in tree cover from 2001 to 2021, with the biggest portion of the forest covers destroyed for charcoal production and timber.