|
|
Uganda: Row Erupts Between Kabarole Residents And UWA
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Monitor (Kampala)
4 August 2008
Posted to the web 4 August 2008
Joseph Mugisa
A row has erupted between the residents of Hakibaale sub - county in Kabarole District and the Uganda Wildlife Authority over Tooro-Semuliki Wildlife Reserve land.
The row started on July 20 when UWA officials while opening the Tooro -Semuliki Wildlife Reserve boundaries went to the three parishes of Kituule, Kiijura and Kabende and cleared people's banana plantations.
Mr Charles Tumwesigye, the Chief Warden Kibaale Conservation Area, told journalists in Fort Portal that UWA officials destroyed banana plantations after the residents of Hakibaale sub - county in Kabarole District and the Uganda Wildlife Authority over Tooro-Semuliki Wildlife Reserve land.
The row started on July 20 when UWA officials while opening the Tooro -Semuliki Wildlife Reserve boundaries went to the three parishes of Kituule, Kiijura and Kabende and cleared people's banana plantations.
Mr Charles Tumwesigye, the Chief Warden Kibaale Conservation Area, told journalists in Fort Portal that UWA officials destroyed banana plantations after a-one-year ultimatum they had given to Hakibaale Sub County residents expired.
"We gave the residents of Hakibaale one year so that they could harvest all their crops and leave the reserve land but in vain," he said on July 28.
A row has erupted between He said UWA officials had to destroy the crops so that they could go ahead with the national-wide programme of opening all wildlife protected areas following a 2004 UWA survey.
The survey found out that about 49 families has stubbornly encroached on the reserve land and had planted only crops without building houses. "Planting only crops on the reserve land without building there houses was a sign that the residents knew they were doing something wrong," Mr Tumwesigye said.
|
He said some residents had taken over gardens of the residents who had complied with UWA's orders and left the land. "Affected residents are bitter because UWA ignored the old boundaries when erecting their pillars along the reserve boundaries," said Burahya County MP Steven Kagwera.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
