Nema vows to arrest wetland encroachers
Kayunga. Encroachers who recently reclaimed a section of Ssezibwa wetland in Kayunga and Mukono districts face arrest, National Environment Management (Nema) officials have said.
More than 500 people were evicted from the area in December last year.
However, Mr Nicholas Magara, the Nema coordinator of wetland matters in the central region, said the encroachers have failed to respect the commitment.
“Last year, we were lenient and didn’t arrest them. However, this time we are going to arrest and prosecute them and no one is going to blame us,” Mr Magara said last week.
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 Kayunga environment officer, Mr Patrick Musaazi, said they are working with the Resident District Commissioner, District Internal Security Officer and the environment police to take action against the encroachers.
“We don’t want any political interference when time comes to arrest those people,” Mr Musaazi said.
A source within the police in Kayunga said a letter had been written to the commandant of the environmental protection unit in February about the issue, but said he had not received a response.
Plead for leniency
Some encroachers said they were forced back to cultivate in the wetland due to lack of arable land.
“We are landless yet we have to pay school fees for our children. We ask the President to allow us to grow crops because we have nowhere to go,” Mr Moses Mukisa, a resident, said.
Statistics show that the country has lost more than 30 per cent of its wetlands in the last 23 years.
