Residents of Kijabijo Village in Wakiso District have accused encroachers of fencing off a 21-kilometre stretch of a wetland in the area.
The wetland under contention is in Lwajjali Buffer Zone, which is 19kms from Kampala City, off Gayaza Road.
The locals from Kijabijo Village under their umbrella body, the Kijabijo Wetland Restoration and Protection Association, have called upon different stakeholders, including the media to support them in naming and shaming the encroachers.
In a February 29 letter to the Ministry of Water and Environment, the association tasked the government to urgently assist the community to reclaim and restore the wetland.
“The wetland destruction has increased flood and drought damage, nutrients runoff, water pollution, shoreline erosion. It has triggered a decline in wildlife populations in our area. Some flora and fauna have been whipped out completely from the wetland,’’ the letter reads in part.
Locals allege that one of the accused, Mr Mustafa Mutyaba, has reclaimed a section of the wetland by burning papyrus rides and using an excavator to refill it with soil.
But Mr Mutyaba last month told Daily Monitor that he “acquired” his land in 2015 and has since turned it into an ecological area by planting trees.
He also blamed the locals for teaming up to fight his developments.
“There is a lady who approached me some time back to buy my land, which borders hers, but I refused. Since then, she has teamed up with locals against me,’’ he said.
When we inquired whether he [Mutyaba] has a land title for the land, he said the matter is before the court.
“There is no way I can comment on such an issue already at court. I have told you to come to my premises and find out if they are on a wetland,’’ he said.
We could not independently verify the exact case in court.
But Mr Hannington Sserugo, the chairperson of Kijabijo Village, told this newspaper that a section of the buffer zone of the wetland had been fenced off.
“It is true there is a long stretch of land fenced off, with trees and paspalum grass planted near the wetland. The owner claims he has a land title and a wetland-use permit. I became an LC1 chairperson recently and the fencing of the area took place in the past regime,’’ he said.
Mr Sserugo claims locals reported the alleged encroachment to Kira Division offices in Wakiso District and a team of officials visited the area.
“Nema should come and settle this matter. If there is an encroacher on the wetland, the boundary should be reinstated,’’ he added.
Our efforts to get a comment from Ms Rebecca Bukenya, the Wakiso District natural resource office, has been futile since last month. She neither answers nor replies our messages.
Ms Naomi Karekaho, the spokesperson of Nema, told Daily Monitor that several activities have been stopped in Lwajjali Wetland, including activities of a “Turkish Company’’. She, however, expressed ignorance of any encroachment in Kijabijo Wetland area.
Daily Monitor has learnt that officials from the Water and Environment ministry have also visited Kijabijo Village on numerous occasions, ordered encroachers out of the wetland, but the destruction has continued. Mr Micheal Asaba Mupenzi, a cattle farmer and resident of Kijabijo Village, said: “The encroachers have been issued with restoration notices, however, the notices are not being adhered to and we urged the ministry to enforce them and restore the Lwajjali Buffer Zone.’’
Ms Bowser Miranda, the brain behind the Kijabijo Wetland Restoration and Protection Association, said: “Encroachers are destroying the precious protected ecosystem and the entire wetland area. They have burnt and removed wetland papyrus, used excavators, landfilled on a large scale and altered all the waterways within the area with sandbags, culverts, bridges, ditches and the planting of non-indigenous tress to help try and create dry land in the wetland.’’
Daily Monitor visited the area last month and found out that indeed a section of the wetland had been encroached on. Ms Bowser, who is also the operator of Flametree Stables, near the wetland, said they have teamed up with many community activists to save the last wetland standing in Lwajjali Buffer Zone.
“We want the government to cancel all titles and leases for people on protected areas in Kijabijo,’’ she said.
The association leadership on Tuesday met the Minister of Water and Environment and police officers who promised them to arrest all encroachers.