Ephraim Kasozi
14 May 2011
Hundreds of people calling themselves veterans on Thursday morning occupied a two-kilometre stretch of the Lubigi Wetland in Wakiso District. The group, armed with farm tools, cut down papyrus reeds and other plants before demarcating the wetland, located between the Namungoona round-about and Sentema Road junction, into plots for houses and a market.
Just as the President took to the podium to swear-in for his fourth term at Kololo grounds, this group, claiming to have clearance from State House, descended on the wetland, creating a possible environment calamity.
At the site, the group of encroachers, many who refused to be identified, filled forms showing they had been recruited through an activists outfit based in Rubaga, Kampala called the Uganda Patriotic Voluntary Organisation (UPAVO).
Eyewitnesses say the encroachers claim to be veterans and traders from Kasubi Market and other parts of the town who are occupying the wetland including the road reserve gazetted by the Uganda Road Authority (UNRA).
UNRA officials led by Mr Musa Bakhita inspected the area on Thursday and asked the encroachers, who were buying UPAVO forms at Shs1,000, to desist from erecting structures in the road reserve.
“We are trying to identify the ring leaders but they are not here. We are trying to stop them from tampering with the road reserve because there is a lot of confusion which can be solved by sensitising them,” Mr Bakhita told Daily Monitor at the scene.
Efforts to get a comment from President Museveni’s press Secretary were futile as his mobile telephone went unanswered. But Dr Sawula Musoke, the deputy executive director of the National Environment Management Authority, said they were devising ways of controlling the situation.
“We learnt about the situation this morning that they are veterans but we have also contacted the authorities to enforce the law. We don’t know those people, they are illegal and we shall deal with them accordingly,” he said on Thursday.
Whereas environment experts warn that unchecked human activities on designated wetlands and forests could pose a looming disaster for the country, politicians have come in for criticism since they are seen to back encroachers many times.
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