Tuesday, March 21, 2023

NEMA has noted an article in the Daily Monitor under the headline ‘Uganda Law Society Challenges NEMA on the car dustbin penalty’. NEMA is indeed in receipt of a letter from the same Law Society seeking clarity on the basis and prescription of the sh6m maximum fine for driving a car without a trash bin.

NEMA wishes to clarify that these fines were not newly drafted nor legislated by the Executive as secondary or subsidiary legislation. These fines are derived directly from the provisions of existing laws promulgated by Parliament.

Section 172(1) of the National Environment Act No. 5 2019, provides that where the Authority, an authorized officer or environmental inspector has a reasonable belief that a person has contravened the provisions of the National Environment Act, the Authority, authorized officer or environmental inspector may impose an administrative fine and serve a notice on that person.

Further, Section 172 (2) of the said Act, provides that NEMA may require the person served with a notice under Subsection (1) to pay the administrative fine within the time prescribed in the notice. The notice shall therefore specify; the date and nature of the alleged contravention, contain a summary of the facts which the Authority or authorized officer alleges, be endorsed with a statement setting out the provisions of the law contravened, specify the penalty payable; and state the bank details of the bank Account of the Authority in which the payment is to be made.

From the above provisions in the law, it follows that a fine can only be levied for a committed offense in the law. As such, the figures published by NEMA as maximum chargeable fines for environment breaches are derived from the National Environment Act, 2019 and since they are administrative fines, they are in all cases below the maximum stated in the law and in most cases as low as 50% of the maximum prescribed in the Act.

The fines are voluntary and are meant to avoid congesting the judicial system with prosecutions of common offenses and indeed congesting our prisons. However, should the person who has committed the offense prefer not to pay the fine, they are free to choose the option of being prosecuted for the offense committed which would in any case result in higher penalties including financial and custodial sentences.

In addition, the matter of having a trash bin in a vehicle is a means to enforce section 97 of the National Environment Act which addresses the prohibition of littering. Sub-section 3 of section 97 says a person driving a vehicle is responsible for the sanitary condition of the vehicle and for the waste generated therein.

At the commencement of the Administrative Penalty Scheme, NEMA will focus on public transport vehicles such as buses and commuter taxis, particularly those that do long-haul commutes where waste is generated as a result of journey refreshments, and child care among others. Private vehicles will be attended to in the subsequent phase of implementation.

We call upon Ugandans to embrace wise use of our environment because, everybody has the right to a clean and healthy environment, and every person must create, maintain and enhance the environment, including the duty to prevent pollution.

ENDS