UWA gives three districts Shs4.4b

Kanungu. Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has given Shs4.47 billion to Kanungu, Kisoro and Rubanda districts, which border Bwindi and Mgahinga national parks, to conserve wildlife.
Kanungu received about Shs2.4b, Rubanda got Shs1b while Kisoro was allocated Shs949m. The funds are part of gate collections from tourists into the parks.

While handing over the money to the respective district leaders at Buhoma, the headquarters of the Bwindi-Mgahinga conservation area last Thursday, the Minister for Tourism, Prof Ephraim Kamuntu, warned against diverting the funds to other projects instead of directly benefiting the communities.
“The money may come when there is a stalled road project or a bridge to work on and the district may want to use it first for that while the communities keep waiting. I want this money to be used well so that people who have no parks may want parks to come where they are so that they too can get the money,” Prof Kamuntu said.

He said tourism sector is the biggest foreign exchange earner with $1.5 billion (about Shs5 trillion) earned annually.
Prof Kamuntu also called for protection of gorilla tourism.
“Gorilla tourism is iconic in tourism industry, Uganda has 54 per cent of the gorillas in the world, this cannot be taken for granted. You find even some countries that don’t have the gorillas advertising them,” he said.

“We need to value our people, culture and heritage, so that we can promote our tourism better,” the minister added.
Mr John Justice Tibesigwa, the area conservation manager, said the funds will facilitate at least 76 community projects so that residents neigbouring the park appreciate the value of conservation.
He said the revenue sharing programme in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park started in 1996, adding that since then, more than Shs7.6b has been disbursed to communities.
“The funds have been increasing every year and will continue to grow with increasing visitor numbers and improving price regime,” Mr Tibesigwa said.

Mr Sam Mwandha, the UWA executive director, said the money was distributed to the three districts basing on population and area of park coverage.
He urged the districts to be more innovative in the sector.
“Develop more activities, more sites that tourists can go to when they are here. Let communities not focus on only getting this revenue sharing money, they too can benefit directly from tourism,” Mr Mwandha said.

Mr Peter Kibondo Rwakifari, the Rubanda Resident District Commissioner, urged UWA to follow up and ensure targeted projects have been implemented.
Ms Josephine Kasya, the Kanungu chairperson, asked the Ministry of Tourism to follow up the presidential pledge on tarmacking tourism roads, saying they will ease movement and increase numbers of visitors to the parks.
Local leaders called for accreditation of burial sites for Rwanda kings in Kisoro District and Kibwetere inferno site in Kanungu as tourist sites.

The Tourism minister, Prof Ephraim Kamuntu, also opened a new tourist information centre at Buhoma. The centre will be the first access point of information for tourists about the parks.

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