Govt shuts down company after environmental horror exposé

A day after The Nation exposed one of the worst environmental horror stories in Malawi; the Department of Environmental Affairs on Tuesday closed Sunseed Oil Company Limited in Lilongwe for endangering communities around it.

The department cracked its whip on the cooking oil-making company by issuing an operational stop order, the most serious of its actions against violation of the Environment Management Act Number 23 of 1006.

Besides the order for a shutdown of its production machines, Sunseed Oil has also been fined K1 million (about $2 173) for discharging and emitting pollutants into the environment. The company has until November 12 this year to pay the fine to the department.

Later in the evening, Sunseed Oil’s sister firm Central Poultry Farm, that was also accused of dumping dead and rotten chickens in surrounding villages, was also slapped with an environmental protection order, that bars the company from the malpractice and restricts its operations. It has also been fined K1 million.

Director of environmental affairs Dr. Aloysiuos Kamperewera handed the stop order to the Sunseed Oil management at around 4.30pm yesterday.

Lilongwe City mayor George Chapondera also witnessed the action at the company located in the Magwero area, near Kamuzu International Airport along the M1 Road.

In earlier discussions with the factory officials, Kamperewera, the mayor and their respective delegations, with some journalists in tow, it seemed they would go back better informed about how the company plans to correct the pollution problems its poor waste management has caused some of the neighbouring villagers.

But Kamperewera finally sent a hush across the room when he announced: “I have, here, the closing order [of only the oil section of the sister oil and chicken feed factories] because this is endangering public health.”

The order will be in effect until after Sunseed Oil complies with remedial measures at its factory premises and the provisions of relevant legislations

Proposed corrective measures include revamping its industrial effluent treatment plant, constructing double chamber septic tanks, emptying the sludge from the septic tank, rectifying the drainage system, disposing general waste at the designated disposal site and preparing an environmental audit.

The inspection found that there are poor drainage design facilities at the factory, resulting in the discharge of waste into the Nafutsa River and the surrounding environment.

It also faulted the factory for having only three flocculation ponds, which are not adequate to contain the capacity of waste water being generated, this eventually resulting in overflows and leakages into the environment.

Also, the septic tanks were found to be non-functional, as evidenced by the presence of dried sludge in the septic tanks.

On Monday, The Nation revealed that more than 150 villagers in the area are in grave danger of suffering—and even dying—from various diseases, as they are forced to drink what an environmental expert says is heavily-contaminated water.