IMPUNITY! Tororo Councilor defies Gen.M7 on wetlands
Photos of growing Eucalyptus up to the river bank
A boss is always right, an adage goes and definitely the President of a country is always right because he knows what he wants for his countrymen and future generations to come. Because presidents the world over are surrounded by experts in every aspect of life, environment inclusive, they get expert opinions from different sources and then make wise decisions for posterity of citizens.
Along this line, President Museveni has always preached the gospel of environmental conservation and wetland management. For the last five years or so, President Museveni has preached and issued directives to all the occupants of wetlands to vacate for the regeneration of the plant cover for the benefits of the surrounding communities, like grazing animals, fish farming. He has emphasized that there is no Ugandan who owns any wetland and therefore has no legal right to get land title for the same.
Whereas this directive has been respected by the majority of the former wetland users, who voluntarily vacated all over Uganda, in Tororo, specifically in Nambogo A Village, Iyolwa Town Council, Tororo District, one particular councilor, Otogo Nathan, his brother, Oketch Wilber, sisters and other family members went ahead and defied the presidential directive and planted eucalyptus (kalintunsi) on a public government land (buffer zone which is meant to be 200 metres from the river bank) of river Malaba.
This situation has brought a lot of conflicts between the wanainchi who derive their livelihood from this public land and these illegal occupants of the government buffer zone, which is meant for communal use. This particular area is a water point for animals, grazing etc.
These wetland abusers went ahead and put barbed wires and blocked the wanainchi from accessing this buffer zone for grazing their animals, fishing, with all forms of threats and intimidations including monetary compensation by people who pass through these forest of trees.
POLICE ACCOMPLICES
Police in Iyolwa sub county headquarters have severally witnessed this illegal compensation making people think they are part of this illegal racket.
“How can illegal occupant of government wetland impound animals and then ask for compensation in front of police and be paid?” wonders one of the concerned citizens.
Police personnel have reportedly never bothered to visit the place and verify the community grievances for themselves.
“There has been a perennial community conflict because of this impunity for over ten years because of just one family blocking the livelihoods of the surrounding communities of more than five villages of Nambogo A, Nambogo Central,Ngetta A, Ngetta C, Poti B etc and over 3,000 people affected.”
According to these wetland grabbers, it is illegal and a taboo to go through this forest with animals and so many people have been arrested and paid a lot of money to these illegal occupants of the government buffer zone.
It is their turn to be arrested and charged for this volume of illegality and impunity.
If a private citizen can defy the presidential directive, then that person needs to be dehorned. Whom can such a person respect and honour really?
HISTORY OF RIVER MALABA
It should be noted that river Malaba starts its journey on top of Mountain Elgon in Bugisu, Manafa district, and navigates its way through Tororo County, Mella, separating Uganda and Kenya exactly at Malaba border point, all the way to UTRO, Kayoro,Ndaiga in Busia district , Iyolwa Town Council downwards to ButalejjaDisctrict into Mpologoma river which eventually feeds into Lake Kyoga in Kamuli up to River Nile.
COMMUNITY INTERVENTION AND INTERESTS
Whereas the President was and is still very clear that there is no Ugandan who owns wetland and no one has a right to have a land title on a wetland, this particular family went ahead and surveyed this particular portion using former Iyolwa sub-county authorities and denied community access. Our local leaders and opinion leaders have tried everything within their ability with all types of meetings all in vain.
COMMUNITY CRIES AND CALLS
We all know that environmental degradation is an offence under the laws of Uganda, we see people being arrested and produced in courts including in Kampala, it is high time we see justice for the benefits of the community in Bamboo A, in Tororo.
The issue of wetland especially community government owned is now a point of life and death in Tororo because of population explosion. About three months ago, someone was brutally killed because of a fight for government wetland in Merikit in Tororo County.
As peaceful supporters of NRM and Museveni in particular, we are calling on relevant government offices to come and investigate this situation before it goes out of hand and becomes disastrous. We are not ready to see future generations losing their livelihood.
As community members, we have suffered silently and we are not ready and willing to lose our wealth, mainly animals because we don’t have grazing rights on a government wetland fenced off by private individuals and our herders can’t cross to the neighboring areas through this forest of eucalyptus.
RIVER BANK IN THE VICINITY
The arrogance and impunity of this family has been there for a very long time from the time of their late father, John Oloka with endless conflicts with neighbors here and there and his sons are here to carry it on despite knowing its illegalities.
CALLS TO SHACU AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICE
We are sending this distress call to your offices to come to Nambogo A, Iyolwa town council, Tororo and arrest these government wetland grabbers, because there is no one who is above the law. Where did they get the power to own government wetland with land title as they claim,which is meant to benefit every citizen there?
If private individuals can grab government land and fence it,then our future is doomed as a country.
CALLS TO RDC AND DISTRICT LEADERS IN TORORO
We request the RDC, LC5, district environmental officer, plus police to spare their time and come to the ground and see this case for them instead of reacting after like the case of Merikit Sub County in Tororo County where someone died.
We advise your office to insist on coming to the ground instead of summoning these people to your office, because we want your team to confirm that what we are alleging is nothing but the truth.
We have urged the office of LC3 to invite the RDC and we are yet to see him in Nambogo, to come and pick these community security threats and order for the felling of these trees by the culprits themselves. If the government can order for the cutting of rice, we wonder why eucalyptus can be an exception.
We have seen on TV, in Kampala houses being razed down, people being arrested for wetland abuse and produced in courts of law and therefore Otogo Nathan and his family members cannot be an exception depriving the community their livelihood of community land for animals grazing and watering.
It should be recalled that the president warned that there is no Ugandan who has a right to plant eucalyptus on a wetland, however, Otogo Nathan and his family members, defied the president and his directives and did the reverse.
If someone can defy the president then whom can such a person have respect for?
CALLS TO OTHER WETLAND CONSERVATIONISTS
As wanainchi whose economic rights have been abused, we call upon your offices to come to our rescue to see that as community members we get justice in regards to this level of impunity.
COMMUNITY MEETINGS AND RESOLUTIONS
There have been more than ten community meetings between the wanainchi, local political leaders, opinion leaders and the family of Hon Otogo to respect the presidential directive on wetland and let the community use the land for their benefits, all in vain. To avoid violence and physical confrontation, which can be deadly, we urge the government to give attention to the plight of the wanainchi.
As a community interested in peaceful existence and preservation of security, this write up is a collective effort of community members and an official invitation to all relevant stakeholders to come to Nambogo and rescue the helpless voters of Museveni. Let this area be an example to other leaders out there that there is no one above the law. As locals we have suspicions that there are some leaders, who are conduits and therefore we are praying for a surprise visit by higher authorities because the people whom we thought would help have failed.
We want this family to tell us the community members where they got the authority to process land title on a communal government wetland, which they claim to possess. These people simply need criminal prosecution because they have become unruly in this community.
The writer is a concerned resident from Tororo.
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