Tororo Mayor Calls for Local Jobs, Farmer Opportunities as Bukona Ethanol Plant Launches in Malaba.
By Gabriel Oligo.
Tororo Municipality Mayor Bernard Ochieng has called on the management of the Bukona ethanol blending plant to prioritise local employment, source raw materials from local farmers and ensure that communities benefit directly from the investment.
Speaking during the launch and commissioning of the ethanol blending plant in Malaba, Ochieng described the project as a major development not only for Malaba and Tororo District but also for Uganda as a whole.
He applauded the project team for choosing Tororo as the host district, noting that the investment presents an important opportunity for local economic growth.
On agricultural supply, the Mayor urged the plant’s management to prioritise locally available products, particularly cassava, saying Tororo has the agricultural potential to support the facility’s production needs.
He assured the investors that local farmers were ready to supply the required raw materials and encouraged the company to first explore opportunities within the district before sourcing produce from other areas.
Ochieng also emphasised the need for residents of Tororo to benefit from employment opportunities generated by the project, urging the management to give qualified local people priority at different levels of recruitment.
He cautioned against a situation where communities host major investments but remain excluded from the economic opportunities they create.
“We cannot take the end result without really being part of it,” Ochieng said, pointing to challenges experienced in other projects where host communities benefit from by-products but miss out on employment and other opportunities along the production chain.
The Mayor further called on the company to make some of its finished products available in local markets, arguing that residents of Tororo should have the opportunity to become among the first consumers of products manufactured in their district.
He also pledged the commitment of Tororo’s leadership and security agencies to protecting the investment, citing cooperation involving the district leadership, Malaba Municipality, the Resident District Commissioner’s office and security personnel.
Ochieng said the local leadership was ready to support the project’s success, provided that the surrounding communities were meaningfully involved and benefited from its operations.
His remarks placed local participation, employment creation, agricultural market access and community protection at the centre of discussions surrounding the new ethanol blending facility.
The Mayor’s appeal reflects a broader expectation that the Bukona project should deliver benefits beyond industrial production by creating economic opportunities for farmers, job seekers, traders and consumers in Tororo and the wider region.
