By KT Reporter
Local leaders in Moroto district are calling for the degazettement of land currently under the Uganda Wildlife Authority-UWA in the Matheniko-Bokora Game Reserve.
The leaders allege that UWA took over the most fertile land, pushing them to drier areas, and is now leasing it out to investors without benefiting the locals. They are now demanding back their land to cultivate and also manage the minerals found within.
They also alleged that the investors have been quarrying stones from the Nakut area and the money was paid to the UWA, which never benefited the community.
John Logwe, the chairperson of Rupa Community Development Trust (RUCODET), explained that the UWA had taken their land for the purpose of conserving it strictly for wildlife. Logwe said that they later discovered that the land was occupied with minerals, which they thought would benefit the community.
Logwe said that the department responsible for minerals has been giving mining licenses to investors to mine the minerals inside the area of conservation.
Logwe confirmed that there is already mining activity taking place in the game reserve, and it’s UWA collecting money. He said that the UWA claimed the ground rent for the land and other remits go to them and not the community.
Logwe said that they had requested UWA to revert the land to the community since it had changed its purpose, but they have paid a deaf ear, yet they continue to pick money from the investors.
He urged the UWA to de-gazette the land and give it back to the community so that they can take charge of negotiating with the investors and benefit from the royalties.
Joseph Otita, the LCIII Chairperson of Rupa Sub-County, said they do not have wild animals around, but UWA has decided to gazette the only fertile land that used to feed them through farming.
Otita noted that if the game reserve had animals, they would be seeing tourists coming around, also remitting some support to the sub-county. He said that all the minerals have been gazetted into the game reserve, and they are not benefiting from it.
Otita said that the people used to produce their own food from the fertile land before they were pushed to drier areas. He said that the land should be given back to the community so that they are able to carry out farming activities and fight food insecurity.
Otita blamed the government for failing to protect the community, but instead gazetted their land for the game reserve. He said that they want to go back to the previous land so that they can become self-reliant and address the problem of their children loitering in the streets to look for survival.
John Robert Adupa, the LC3 sub-county chairperson, said that the whole of Lotisan Sub-County was unfairly taken over, leaving them with limited fertile land for agriculture.
Adupa said that the UWA have gazetted all three parishes out of four in their entire sub-county, and the communities were forced to migrate to other areas.
Adupa noted that the poverty eradication projects, such as the Parish Development Model, need land for production, and now the community can not invest money in agriculture due to a lack of land.
He said that they have never seen tourists coming around the sub-county, and they are not benefiting from the land conserved.
Josephine Lokongo, the female district councillor representing Rupa Sub-County, said that they are not happy with the UWA for denying the community the right to their land.
Lokongo stressed that they want UWA to leave their land rather than keep it idle when the community lacks where to cultivate their crops. She also believes the land is endowed with many minerals that the community would benefit from it and not UWA as an institution.
Lokongo said that they have learned about the ongoing negotiations between UWA and the investors over the mining deal inside the game reserve.
Bashir Hangi, the spokesman of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, while responding to the alleged mining in the conservation area, stated that the investors had a concession with the institution.
Hangi explained that the law allows them to concession some of the spaces in the game reserve because they have to balance between development and conservation. He said that they have several concessioners in most of their conservation areas that are carrying out various development activities.
He said that UWA does not benefit from the mining deal, but the community is free to engage the investors involved in the mining so that they can agree on the benefit sharing.
However, Esther Anyakun, the woman Member of Parliament for Nakapiripirit district urged the UWA to halt the evictions until the issues are resolved from the cabinet. Anyakun stressed out those evicting communities at this time will be a political suicide for the political leaders in the region and the President.
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