NFA evicts 620 families from forest reserve

Kibaale District and NFA officials inspect part of the forest reserve last week. Photo by Ronald Tumusiime.  

In Summary

Encroached. Kibaale District has at least 16 forest reserves but most of them have been encroached on.

Kibaale. A total of 624 families are stranded after they were evicted from Kangombe Forest Reserve in Kibaale District by the UPDF on the orders of National Forestry Authority (NFA).
The eviction, which started last Wednesday, leaves more than 2,500 people homeless with those evicted now camped at Muzizi Trading Centre in Nyamarunda Sub-county.
Those affected are mostly residents of Karukarungi, Buhumuliro and Baghdad villages, where encroachers, especially of Rwandan origin, have been living.

The Muzizi village chairperson Mr Emmanuel Kemerwa, said the UPDF soldiers forced out families many of whom have lived in the area for more than 10 years.
“We request government to intervene since the High Court had suspended the eviction,” he said.
However, the NFA sector manager for Kagadi, Mr Uzia Ndyanabo, said they could not just look on as the forest is being depleted, saying the threat on the forest had forced them to evict encroachers despite a High Court order.
In 2014, High Court Judge Owiny-Dollo restrained NFA from evicting encroachers, until when the boundaries are opening up.
However, the boundaries, according to affected families, have never been opened.
Addressing the affected families on Monday, the Minister of Finance, Mr Matia Kasaija, questioned why the eviction had been conducted without effecting the court order.
“We agreed that NFA should open up the boundaries before evicting people but now I hear even the army is inside the forest. Is that the way things are done?” he wondered.
Mr George William Namyaka, the Kibaale District chairman, called for calm, saying “a solution will be found in a few days”.

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