Karamoja-based cement factory on spot as workers turn to flying toilets

KAMPALA: Workers at a cement factory in Moroto district are up in arms following alleged mistreatment by their bosses.

Local media reported that workers at Sunbird factory which is owned by West International Holdings Limited that will soon start manufacturing clinker have complained of poor sanitation facilities.

Reports claimed at least 50 Ugandan and Chinese workers have turned to easing themselves in the bushes due to lack of washroom facilities inside the estimated $300 million factory.

One of the workers told local media that, “For one to answer to nature’s call, most employees rush behind a mound of soil because there is no latrine on site, and what has helped is that Nanduget is sparsely populated area.”

West International Holdings Limited is a subsidiary of China West Cement Limited. The China Railway 20th Bureau Group Corporation is the company responsible for the construction works of the cement factory.

“Whereas we have been talking to our Chinese employers about the need to have a pit latrine in place for the workers, they have kept a deaf ear,” the worker revealed.

Workers also complained about being overworked yet they are paid meager allowances of shs11,000 per day, without providing meals.

President Museveni launched the factory’s construction last year, promising that the facility once completed would save Uganda clinker import bill of sh380m.

“So the people working in the factories will benefit, the government will benefit by taxes but I also want all the Karimojongs to benefit from the ongoing industrial development in the area in all the other ways,” Museveni said.