Court fines six forest reserve encroachers
Suspects appear before Kagadi Grade One Magistrate’s Court recently. File photo
What you need to know:
Prosecution told court last Friday that 15 people were arrested by army and police of National Forest Authority (NFA) Kagadi sector as they patrolled the forest on May 13
KIBAALE.
The Kagadi Grade One Magistrate’s Court in Kibaale District has sentenced six people to a fine of Shs400,000 each or two years imprisonment after they were convicted of destroying Kangombe Central Forest Reserve.
Prosecution told court last Friday that 15 people were arrested by army and police of National Forest Authority (NFA) Kagadi sector as they patrolled the forest on May 13.
The court sentenced Jacob Tumusiime and five others after they accepted the charges of entering and destroying Kangombe forest last week.
“For purposes of preserving nature for future generations, the law is clear, you are sentenced to a fine of Shs400,000 each or two years imprisonment,” Mr Simon Toloko, the presiding magistrate, said.
The group was found cultivating maize and cassava hence destroying the forest contrary to the provisions of the National Forest Act.
Mr Toloko also remanded nine others until May 25 after they pleaded not guilty to charges of encroachment
Agricultural expansions and wood extraction are the main causes of deforestation of Kangombe reserve.
Uganda loses 92,000 hectors of forest cover annually according to National Environment Management Authority.
The numbers
43%
Forest cover Kibaale District lost according to a 2005 land cover mapping.
