NFA officers dragged to court over missing exhibits 

Four National Forestry Authority (NFA) staff in Kalangala District are in the spotlight over missing exhibits.

The exhibits include charcoal, life jackets, fuel, fish and other food items, reportedly impounded from suspected illegal charcoal burners in the area.
 The accused officers are Mr Phillipson Mugumya , the NFA sector manager for Buggala Island , Mr Geoffrey Mbabazi ,the NFA supervisor in Kyamuswa  Constituency , Mr Ibrahim Muyingo ,the coxswain  of NFA boat,  and Mr Bosco Seruwagi,a driver.

 The officers are jointly sued with Mr Alex Mpaka Nyakarwa, a police officer at Kalangala Central Police Station.
Records before Kalangala Grade One Magistrate indicate that between October 2 and October 28 , 2021  the accused officers impounded two large boats locally known as Ebinaala belonging to Nabbumba Transporters Ltd.
 The boats were reportedly carrying 280 sacks of charcoal, fuel (102 litres of petrol),40  life jackets, a tonne of   fish, eight sacks of pineapples and  10 bags of cassava.

However, court records indicate that the boats resurfaced at Mwena Landing Site two weeks later empty and the accused persons  destroyed  them.
The case was  filed by Mr Daniel Kaweesa Ssebaggala, the director of Nabbumba Transporters Ltd, on December 1.  “They [NFA staff] confiscated charcoal which was purchased from private forests .The owner presented movement permits but they could not listen to us. Our boats were destroyed beyond repair,” Mr Kaweesa said in his  affidavit.

The civil suit under small claim procedure No.85 and No.86, is before Kalangala Grade One Magistrate, Mr Daniel Opobu Kiboko. 
Mr  Mugumya, one of the respondents,  confirmed receiving an order requiring him and other  staff members to  appear in court.
“We impounded charcoal and the owners of the boats escaped in the process. They did not come back to claim their items. We are ready to abide by any court  decision, ”he said.
When asked about the missing exhibits, Mr Mugumya said the law permits them to sell the impounded cargo. 
In the past decade, there has been an acrimonious relationship between NFA staff and timber/charcoal dealers in Kalangala. 

The latter  have on several occasions accused police and NFA officers of selling mature trees in central forest reserves to timber dealers  from Entebbe and Kampala.
An environmental survey conducted in December 2019 by Kalangala District NGO Forum (Kadingo), a community based organisation, revealed  that the district had lost 2,080 acres of forest cover between 2017 and 2018. 
Kalangala’s total acreage is 2.2 million. According to the survey, indiscriminate felling of trees is mostly done in central forest reserves where 1,580 acres had been destroyed in two years.
Some of the most depleted central forest reserves, according to the survey, include Funve in Mazinga Sub-county, Bunyama, Buswa and Kisujju in Bujumba Sub-county. Others are Buuga, Tonde, Kitemu , Bugana, Ssekazinga and Butulume.

The massive cutting down of trees has led to precarious strong winds on Lake Victoria since forests that could act as wind breakers are destroyed.
Depletion of forests has also disrupted wildlife  and dangerous animals regularly   invade homesteads for survival .