Two investors arrested over wetland degradation

Authorities in Buikwe District have arrested two investors of Asian descent on allegations of encroaching on Bugungu-Bulamba wetland system in Nyenga Division Njeru Municipality.

The suspects have been arrested on the orders of Buikwe deputy Resident District Commissioner, Mr Hussein Huddu.

According to Mr Huddu, he was alerted by a concerned resident in the area who was suspicious about the ongoing construction works in the wetland.
“I got a tipoff from a concerned citizen who informed me that there is an illegal construction going on in the wetland. I thought he was lying to me, but when I reached at the scene, I found them [investors] supervising construction works and also discovered that they had just stayed in Uganda for only four days,” he said on Tuesday.

Mr Huddu said the wetland where the investors want to construct a factory manufacturing tiles, belongs to Bugungu Prison.

He said the suspects confirmed to him that they had not sought permission of National Environment Management Authority (Nema) as required by law.

“The country is facing adverse effects of climate change and we cannot look on when people are destroying our environment. When I tasked them to present their work permits and environment impact assessment certificate, they didn’t have any of the documents,” he said.

During interrogation, the two investors confirmed that they are constructing a factory for tiles but did not explain how they acquired the land.

The duo is currently detained at Njeru Police Station on charges of Illegal encroachment on government property under file 25/9/3/2019.