Pork sellers want city council to improve pig abattoir

Mbeya. Pork sellers in here have blamed the management of the city council for the failure to improve the pig abattoir situated at Ujenzi area for more than five years since it was closed by the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA).

Due to that, sellers say they are forced to use abattoirs of Iyunga or Uyole area.

TFDA closed the Ujenzi pig abattoir in 2013 over safety concern after it learnt that there was no good drainage system, as the slaughtering activities were polluting the environment.

Speaking to The Citizen different occasions, the butchers said since 2013 they have been struggling for other slaughtering house that are located at far distance (Iyunga and Uyole respectively) hence incurring a lot of cost.

According to Chairman of the association of pork sellers Sokoine Mwakisonga, the decision to close the pig slaughter house was unjust to them given that they were paying Sh3,000 everyday as the revenue that they believed would have been used to clean the environment.

“It is unfortunate that the city council didn’t take any effort to use some part of the money that they were paying to make good hygiene and drainage system at the abattoir that was used by more than 30 butchers,” he said.

For him, if the city was responsible to take care of the slaughterhouse then it would have not been closed by the TFDA.

“With the lack of this abattoir, the city lose a lot of money that was to be paid as revenue and furthermore makes the residents here access port at higher prices than before, due to extra charges that we have to incur in search for alternative slaughterhouse,” he said.

He was of a view that if measures will not be taken then it will reach a time when pigs will be slaughtered at homes.

Another businessman Mr Amon Lucas said there is a need to the regional administration to intervene the project, saying it was unwise for it to remain undeveloped for more than five years.

“It has been our concern for a long time, we need the government to work on this for the greater interest of the business itself and market demand,” he said.

When reached for clarification, the Mbeya city executive director Mr James Kasusura said the needs time to earn about the project since he was new in the city.

“I’m new here, so I need some time to learn about it before coming out with the concrete answers,” he said.