Encroachers make fresh demands
Fresh mudslides on the slopes of Mt Elgon due to encroachment on the national park. Photo by David Mafabi
MANAFWA-The row between Mt Elgon National Park encroachers and Uganda Wildlife Authority has taken a new twist with encroachers demanding for more land in the park.
The encroachers now want 2,035 acres of land in the park for settlement and farming.
The government had in 1993 allowed the encroachers to use part of the parkland for settlement and farming and even went ahead to draw a boundary.
The Mt Elgon conservation area manager, Mr Fred Kizza, said the encroachers’ renewed demands pose a threat to the park.
“We have insisted that they stay within the 1993 boundary until Parliament reviews the position,” Mr Kizza said.
The encroachers led by Mr Stephen Walukano say they have lived in the park long before the coming of Europeans and that when UWA gazetted the area into a national park in 1993, they were already on their cradle land that includes the 2,035 acres of land in the park.
“We want UWA to give us our land and if they can’t, we shall use all means available to reclaim it,” Mr Walukano said.
Mr Kizza maintains that the massive encroachment means the ecosystem will suffer irreparable damage but Walukano insists they (encroachers) will conserve the environment.
Reports from National Environment Management Authority indicate that minor landslides are already occurring on the Mt Elgon slopes because people have encroached on the forest cover.
