Ministry moves to evict wetland encroachers

Ministry of Water and Environment staff have started marking houses of alleged encroachers on Namiiro Wetland in Entebbe Municipality, Wakiso District which face demolition. The move has left hundreds stranded with nowhere to go.

Mr Nicholas Magara, the coordinator of wetlands in central region, says no one will stand in their way as they restore the depleted wetland.

“Early this month, we had a meeting with leaders in Entebbe Municipal Council and the encroachers themselves. We agreed on the way forward which include re-demarcating the boundaries of the wetland. So, all houses with a red X marked on them are going to be demolished,” he said during an interview at the weekend.

So far, at least 50 houses have been marked for demolition and Mr Magara said the exercise will continue this week.
“We know the specific area that we want to work on first. Restoration is going to be done in a phased manner because if we were to restore the whole wetland at once, we would need more than Shs2b, which is not readily available,” he said
Namiiro is one of the few remaining wetlands in Entebbe. Other wetlands have been heavily degraded. They include: Mabamba, Nambigirwa, Lutembe and Nagadya wetlands.

People started encroaching on Namiiro Wetland in 2006 by carrying out bricklaying and later started constructing houses.
The wetland measures about 1,000 hectares, but almost a quarter of it has been encroached on by at least 5,000 people.

Mr Magara urged local leaders and the encroachers to cooperate with the team from the ministry for a smooth exercise.
“This place is waterlogged. So, they (encroachers) better agree with what we are telling them and voluntarily vacate before we apply force,’’ he added.

According to a notice issued by Ministry of Environment last month, residents were given a 21-day ultimatum to vacate the wetland, which elapsed on January 17.

A fortnight ago, Mr Joseph Ongol, the assistant commissioner in-charge of Wetland Management in the Ministry of Water and Environment, urged the encroachers to surrender their land titles and land sales agreements to the ministry for verification. This came after some encroachers claimed ownership of genuine land titles in the wetland.

He said the ministry had decided to re-demarcate boundaries of the wetland and those who will be found within the critical section of the wetland will be evicted without any compensation given to the complainants.

Mr Joseph Sselubaale, a resident in the area, said they will fight back if ministry officials demolish their houses without any compensation.

“We are warning them (ministry officials). In case they come back here, let them come with enough manpower,’’ he said.

However, the Entebbe Division B chairperson, Mr Stanley Namayirira, where Namiiro Wetland is, advised residents to stay calm.
“No one is going to evict you, I am standing with you all through,’’ he said.

Wetlands in Uganda
Ministry of Water and Environment statistics show that Uganda has lost more than 30 per cent of the wetlands in the last 23 years. This trend indicates the country’s increased risk and vulnerability to natural disasters and other effects of climate change.

Section 36 of the National Environment Act provides for the protection of wetlands and prohibits reclamation, erection of illegal structures and empowers authorities to demolish any structure that is fixed in, on, under or above any wetland.

The Act also empowers local leaders in districts to manage wetlands within their jurisdictions and ensure that their boundaries are clearly demarcated so that even as water levels and wetland vegetation recedes, the communities are clear on where the boundaries lie.