Angry residents block factory

Arusha. Hundreds of residents of Mateves Ward in Arusha jammed a textile mill’s main entrance at the weekend to protest against spillage of sewerage from the factory into their residential areas.

The angry residents decided to close the gate after security guards thwarted their move to storm into the factory. Anti-riot police hovered around the factory aboard police vans.

The protesters prevented vehicles from entering or exiting the factory for about five hours despite pleas from the personal assistant to the firm’s chief executive officer, Mr Godwin Obeid, that the problem would be resolved in a week.

Led by Mr Festo Olodi, the chairman of Maasai morans, they complained over the A to Z Textile Mill disposing of sewerage in their residential areas.

One Mr Meleiyo Korongo, said the sewerage contaminated water they relied on for their day-to-day use.

A contaminated gorge was the sole source of water in the drought-prone ward and in Oljoro area, Mr Korongo explained. The sewerage, they claimed, caused skin rashes and killed their livestock as well as plants.

Arusha District Commissioner John Mongela, visited the affected areas before ordering the textile mill’s management to construct sewerage ponds in a week to block the sipillage into residential areas and open fields.

Mr Mongela pleaded with the irate residents to be patient as the firm constructed the water ponds, arguing that a wall constructed in a day as they demanded would not solve the problem once and for all. The wall would collapse overnight, he reasoned.

With over 8,000 employees, A to Z Textile Mill produces a wide variety of products and services with polyester and long-lasting insecticidal bed nets in an effort to combat malaria in the larger EAC region.

It started from a single sewing machine in the 1960s to 11 subsidiaries currently producing food products, male and female pants, T-shirts, plastic utensils, and mineral water.