Museveni orders swamps drained of fishy investors
Bushenyi Resident District Commissioner Jane Asiimwe Muhindo (in yellow) and other local leaders during the launch of Nyamirembe wetland restoration exercise in August last year. Photo | File
What you need to know:
- In 2007, the government, through the Uganda Investment Authority, embarked on a drive to establish industrial parks, where investors would establish factories and industries. However, that has since come at a cost of environmental degradation, which President Museveni wants to reverse.
President Museveni has ordered the cancellation of land titles given to investors to develop factories in wetlands located in gazetted industrial parks.
In a July 23 letter, Museveni also references an earlier decision that all factories in wetlands will be demolished.
“…regarding land in the wetlands that had been allocated to investors for factories but the factories had not been built yet. Those factories should not be built there. They should be given alternative land. The leases should be cancelled,” the letter states.
It adds: “Even for the factories that were already built, did we not say that in the future those leases should not be renewed?”
The Senior Presidential Press Secretary, Mr Sandor Walusimbi, yesterday confirmed the letter and reiterated Mr Museveni’s long standing position
“The President has always been consistent that wetlands are water reservoirs which must be conserved in order to have reliable rainfalls to facilitate human and industrial development and irrigation schemes to boost agriculture,” he said
The minister for Water and Environment, Mr Sam Cheptoris, who yesterday welcomed the President’s position, said he sought his guidance following a stalemate with the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), the statutory body in-charge of industrial parks.
“We have been pulling ropes with the UIA. We insisted that any wetland, whether in gazetted industrial parks, must be protected. The UIA, on the other hand, were of the opinion that all land in gazetted industrial parks, including wetlands, must not be excluded from construction,” he told this publication.
He added : “…wetlands, including those in gazetted industrial parks, must be protected… In fact, he [Museveni] directed UIA to get alternative land for investors who had been allocated land in wetlands.”
In 2007, the government, through the UIA, embarked on a drive to establish industrial parks, where investors would establish factories and industries. The move aims to drive up the country’s industrialisation agenda, ramp up value addition and create much needed employment opportunities.
In 2021, the Cabinet approved the construction of 25 industrial parks in all sub- regions in the country. The UIA was tasked with identifying 500 acres of land in the host districts for each park.
Ms Evelyne Anite, the State minister for Finance in-charge of Investment, in a Tuesday interview, said they had secured the required land and commenced development of necessary infrastructure.
In the planning, according to Ms Anite, each park would house at least 500 factories, which would translate to an acre per factory.
Mr Morrison Rwakakamba, the chairman of UIA Board, said all the land secured will not be affected by Mr Museveni’s guidance.
“We are already implementing a green and sustainable industrial development policy as guided by President Museveni. We recently secured more than 12 square miles of industrial land across the country that are not in wetlands or any ecologically sensitive places,” he said.
On the issue of already established factories, he said: “We are also continuing to engage developed industry owners to continue deepening green and environmentally sustainable practices across chain of their operations.”
The country has witnessed a rapid decline in its wetland coverage. Last year, the National Environment Management Authority reported a reduction from 15.6 percent in 1994 to 8.9 percent in 2017 at a rate of 2.5 percent per year, predisposing the country to flooding.
They further warned that “unless radical measures are instituted immediately to restore the integrity of Uganda’s wetlands, coverage may reduce to 1.6 percent by 2040”.
The July guidance is the latest by Mr Museveni, adding to a multiple others, all in an attempt to curb encroachment and degradation of the environment.
In June 2022 during the Budget speech, President Museveni said there should be no negotiations with encroachers who have deliberately invaded wetlands and settled there.
He ordered all encroachers out of wetlands across the country with immediate effect. In the same year, Mr Museveni ordered a total ban on rice growing in wetlands.
In his 2019 end of year speech, the President warned against environmental degradation, which he said caused landslides that killed people in the Elgon and Rwenzori sub-regions.
He accused police and leaders of being complicit in the degradation through corruption and laxity.
In 2017, he gave wetland encroachers in the country one month to leave or be forced out by the police.
In 2014, he ordered the Solicitor General to take action against wetland encroachment
There is concern, however, that the orders are doing very little in combating encroachment, as many wetlands have been lost
“Presidential orders without enforcement against wetlands degraders are useless. What we need is presidential action that translates into arrest, detention, prosecution, convictions and heavy fines against all culprits of wetlands encroachment,” Lawyer and environmentalist Eron Kiiza said yesterday.
Cabinet approval
In 2021, Cabinet approved the cancellation of at least 420 land titles that were issued in wetlands and central reserve forests. Government officials, who were involved in the issuance of said titles, were to be held culpable.
