Elephants displace Villagers in Nwoya

Lawaca village in Nwoya District, northern Uganda is an eerie place. When you enter the village, which borders Murchison Falls National Park to the north, an unusual stillness hits you before you even notice the overgrown bush that reaches the rooftops of some structures or the weathered wooden doors that hang open revealing scraps of clothing left behind.
About 20 huts have been abandoned for nearly four years, according to residents who moved from the village to Purongo trading centre, 11km away. They say the regular elephant raids that destroyed crops and put their safety at risk drove them out of their homes.
“When elephants came and tried to push over one hut, that was the last straw,” says Vincent Okot, who used to live in Lawaca (sometimes spelt ‘Lawaja’). Okot says his family of six is among some 100 households from Lawaca and Lagazi, the adjacent village, that have been displaced by the ongoing elephant raids. They left their land and homes to rent houses in Purongo trading centre.
“In the early years [before the war], we used to receive one elephant in so many months,” says David Onen, who lived in Lawaca before he was moved to a displacement camp near Karuma in 1987. He returned to his village in 2007 and within two years of resettling, elephants started coming in increasing numbers, he says. Now, 15 to 20 elephants might come daily, he claims.
The majority of the displaced people from Lawaca and Lagazi say they moved to Purongo trading centre in 2010. “The breaking point was when I planted some crops [that year] and the elephants destroyed them all,” says George Ocira, a former resident of Lagazi. “I’m having a very tough time living in the trading centre because there’s no obvious way to make money,” he says, explaining that he, like others from the affected villages, used to sell the surplus of their harvest at local markets.
Without land to cultivate for subsistence and income, Ocira says he struggles to feed his seven children. “I have four children at home because I’ve not been able to afford school fees,” he laments. The occasional work that Ocira says he has found, grinding maize in the trading centre for Shs3,000 a day, doesn’t compare to the Shs280,000 he used to earn harvesting rice twice a year.
Okot asserts: “the backbone of Uganda is farming; a head of a household earning Shs60,000 a month isn’t enough.” He explains that wages are low and work is irregular for the people who have been forced into the centre.
Displaced women say they are also struggling. “We’re harvesting rice in people’s gardens for Shs2,500 a day,” says Jackline Adong, a single mother from Lagazi. Some days, we can’t even find “petty work” in gardens or washing dishes at a hotel, yet we have to pay for food and rent, the latter alone can cost between Shs15,000 to Shs100,000 each month, adds Jennifer Akallo, who moved her seven children from Lawaca to the centre four years ago.
No compensation for wildlife victims
Uganda’s Wildlife Act doesn’t provide compensation to people whose crops are damaged or whose family members are killed by animals, according to Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). The government act makes killing protected wildlife, like elephants, illegal so the residents displaced from Lawaca and Lagazi say they have been at a loss for resolutions and unsupported for years.
The issue is rampant; elephants come almost daily to those villages, says Lakony Okumu, LC III chairman for Purongo sub-county, where Lawaca and Lagazi are located. Two months ago, elephants even came to Purongo trading centre, he says. The people that have lost their homes and gardens to elephants should be compensated so they have a way of earning their living, he argues.
“Completely nothing has been done. I’ve told [Nwoya] district officials and we’ve even taken [the issue] to central region and still nothing,” says Okumu. “Anybody who comes to my office, I talk over these issues so it can go to higher authorities.”
Around this time last year, a parliamentary committee from the ministry of tourism and trade came to Purongo, Anaka and Koch Goma sub-counties to discuss the ongoing human-wildlife conflict that has been affecting people in the areas, says Lilly Adong, Woman MP for Nwoya District. The committee returned to Kampala to write a report, but little came of it, she says.
Six or seven months later, the prime minister’s office sent the displaced residents some relief items, like beans, posho, jerry cans, and cups, but it wasn’t substantial or equivalent to compensation, Adong says, adding that she has been lobbying for more assistance for the communities for several years. In 2012, I presented a petition with more than 200 signatures of community members from Purongo, Anaka and Koch Goma to parliament requesting compensation.
“The whole parliament also considered it and debated it around April or May of this year,” says Adong, explaining that other officials are also aware of how human-wildlife conflicts affect communities. “There were some resolutions made, like ordering government to compensate the communities, to put more wildlife rangers [and] for UWA to improve on their work of intervening.” No one has received compensation yet, she says.
Compensation needs to be realistic, says Jossy Muhangi, public relations manager at UWA, which oversees wildlife around Uganda. ”With all [the animals] that come out and affect fisherman or what, it wouldn’t be realistic [to compensate] so it is treated as disasters or accidents,” he says, explaining that human-wildlife conflicts are considered case-by-case.
“It’s difficult to prove that crops have been destroyed or that someone was killed by a wild animal and not a cow so compensation is a good idea from a humanitarian point of view, but it could easily be abused,” he explains.
UWA support and interventions
Although it’s not part of the current law, UWA does provide some “compassion” assistance to people affected by a death or serious injury caused by wildlife, Muhangi says. “We, at times, foot the medical expenses ... or contribute to burial expenses, buying a coffin and giving some little money to a family,” but there are no precedents for supporting people who have lost crops, gardens or houses because of wildlife.
The Wildlife Act of 2000 is under “ongoing revision,” according to a recently updated version of UWA’s 2012-2022 General Management Plan for Murchison Falls NP. The issue of whether people should be compensated for “death, injuries, and loss of properties caused by wildlife ... is being addressed,” the document outlines.
Proposed amendments to the act will include providing compensation for loss of life, but it’s hard to determine the value of life so it’s very complicated, says Edgar Buhanga, senior planning and environmental impact assessments coordinator at UWA. The government has yet to pass any amendments, he says.
“I think communities aren’t being honest when they say UWA isn’t helping enough,” Buhanga says, challenging the claims made by the residents displaced from Lawaca and Lagazi and the local officials.
There are interventions in place: UWA has outposts for rangers in elephant-prone communities and has dug trenches along Murchison Falls NP to restrict the movement of elephants.
The trench that goes along the park boundaries at Koch Goma sub-county is 57km in length, he says.
Trenches are dug about five-feet deep and seven-feet wide, explains Muhangi at UWA. “Elephants have very short limbs and don’t jump. If trenches are well-constructed, it’s difficult for elephants to cross them and enter communities.”
Adong, who lives in Koch Goma, says she has seen elephants there recently, despite the trench. There is currently no trench to protect Lawaca and Lagazi villages from the park, according to officials.
Planting unpalatable crops like tobacco, red chilies or mixing the spicy peppers with oil and smearing it on a rope hung along the “hot points” where elephants enter can also repel them, says Muhangi. The animals don’t like the noise of bees so raising beehives is another intervention.
Okot, a displaced resident from Lawaca, says he was trained as a wildlife scout by UWA. Although he moved his family to Purongo trading centre in 2010, Okot says he started keeping beehives in the village last year in hopes that the elephant raids would slow and the residents could return. The elephants still come despite his 20 hives, he says.
No intervention is 100 per cent, acknowledges UWA’s planning coordinator, Buhanga. “I’m not aware [of their issues or displacement] personally, but I’m not in the field so it can be very difficult to know what communities are affected by elephants.” Local officials maintain that they have alerted UWA of the elephant raids in Purongo sub-county on several occasions. The elephants visit the villages for several reasons that have been highlighted.
Regardless of the factors contributing to the observed increase in elephants in the areas that border Murchison Falls NP, people have been displaced and need support, she asserts.
After spending so many years in displacement camps, this second displacement must be especially painful for these communities in northern Uganda, says Ron Atkinson, a leading Acholi historian.
“Acholi culture wasn’t destroyed by the war, but it was distressed and damaged. Surely that has to be true for these communities as well, particularly as they haven’t had many years to reestablish their lives, social ties, and land.”
Culturally, the Acholi aim to pass their land onto their sons. Onen, who has been displaced from Lawaca for several years, says he walks two hours to his village each week.
“I want to maintain my land so we can go back one day; I have hope that the problem will be resolved,” he says. Onen’s father gave him his land, which he says he wants to leave for his three sons. “That is the reason we keep fighting.”

Are elephants fleeing oil activities in Murchison Falls NP?