Parliament Decries State of Slaughter Houses

A Parliamentary session has conclusively agreed on summoning two minister over underlying issues of failure to satisfactory implement the Building Permit Management Information System(BPMIS) and improve the meat trade.

The plenary extra ordinary session held January 18, 2023 heard two reports on the state of slaughter houses and use of the BPMIS platform where residents seeking digital permits to undertake construction activities.

The reports presented by the committee on Land, Agriculture, Livestock showed that all 25 audited slaughter houses were not fit to handle meat value chains and a majority had poor hygiene and lacked animal slaughter permits.

The committee also noted there was no meat value chain guidelines,  leaving  gaps in implementation of the meat policy

The committee took a resolve to summon minister of trade and local government to explain in detail the reasons why this situation is as recorded in the report.

On the BPMIS, the Committee said that when it conducted a preliminary analysis of the report of the in-depth audit from Auditor General on the technology used to issue construction permits (BPMIS), it found gaps and problems in the system.

For instance, there was absence of BPMIS management system established, and related documents. The audit revealed that no ICT Committee on BPMIS management was established to monitor its implementation.

The report also showed that the BPMIS had no back up, no strategic plan.

On “BPMIS”, Parliament decided to reprimand the minister of infrastructure to address issues within 4 months.

The house agreed on having the minister of infrastructure to give verbal explanation on issues around the system.