Prime
Conservationists insist Murchison Falls must stay
Tourists enjoy a boat cruise at Murchison Falls in 2019. FILE PHOTO
Kampala- Conservationists opposed to the planned giveaway of the Murchison Falls for the construction of a hydro power dam have resurrected their fight to preserve it with a project dubbed “a natural heritage.”
Mr Everest Kayondo, the chairperson of the Association of Uganda Tours Operators (AUTO), said: “We want to educate the public on the importance of some of our heritage. Ugandans live here, but they know less about their natural heritage,” Mr Kayondo said.
Alternative energy resources like solar are part of the products they want to promote to government to abandon the construction of a power dam.
Murchison Falls is situated on River Nile inside Uganda’s biggest national park, Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP).
The renewed call to save Murchison Falls follows government’s insistence on possibility of constructing a dam on the Murchison Falls.
Uganda Law Society president Simon Peter Kinobe said the giveaway would affect the source of income for the national park.
“We have learnt with shock and sadness that Cabinet took a decision to give away Murchison falls National Park. The good nature we have as Ugandans is a result of swamps, water falls, water systems, forests and these should not be interfered with in the name of development,” Mr Kinobe said.
The legal fraternity vowed to take legal redress in case government insist on the giveaway.
Cabinet last month approved a feasibility study to determine the justification of constructing a hydro-power dam at Murchison Falls National Park.
Government signed a memorandum of understanding with Bonang Energy and Power Ltd, a South African company, to undertake a detailed feasibility study to establish the eligibility of building a power dam at Uhuru Falls in Murchison Falls National Park.
Mr Ben Ntale, the vice chairperson of AUTO, said: “We are doing this to educate people of what is at stake and what it means to the country at large.”
It is also against this backdrop that a five-kilometre marathon has been scheduled for March 22 to mobilise members of the public to appreciate and support the cause.
