Prime
Big poacher who now stakes his life for wildlife protection
Light moment. Ex-poacher Silver Kyamukama with the incoming Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Tourism Board, Ms Lilly Ajarova, on February 17. PHOTO BY EVE MUGANGA
What you need to know:
- On February 19, the Parliament passed the Uganda Wildlife Bill, 2017, which seeks to provide for compensation for loss of life and property caused by animals escaping from wildlife protected areas.
- The Bill repeals and replaces the Uganda Wildlife Act Cap 200 and consolidates the law to guide conservation and management of wildlife in Uganda.
- It proposes imprisonment or a fine not exceeding ten thousand currency points as a penalty to a person, who without a permit takes, hunts, molests or reduces into possession protected specimen. In Uganda, a currency point is Shs20,000.
“It was downright risky,” recalls ex-poacher Silver Kyamukama of Kibale Village in Kamwenge District.
For 20 years, Mr Kyamukama, now 65, plundered the thorny bushes and forests of protected areas in Kibale Forest and Bigodi wetland swamp, armed with just a bow and arrow, which he used to bring down buffaloes, gazelles, giraffes and bush pigs, among his many prey.
He would sneak into the treacherous forest with thorns and dangerous animals for days, and patiently wait for the opportune time to execute his plan.
But as he brought down buffalo after buffalo and selling the spoils to the locals, his life turned into a restless existence.
“One of the major reasons that drove me into poaching was poverty, I had to look after my family, paying school fees for my children and also feeding them. When I started, I would sell buffalo meat to the community, and take home the remainder. And that’s how I used to survive with my family,’’ Mr Kyamukama reveals.
But Kyamukama’s biggest headache was being constantly on the run and evading the wildlife authorities, who tracked him relentlessly.
Often times, he was forced to hide in the bushes.
“I could say I was born lucky because poaching for more than 20 years and never getting arrested was a blessing to me. A times, I would deal with game rangers, bribing them and they would tell me which areas they were to conduct operations, then I would go poaching another side. And that’s how I would survive their arrest,” he says.
But Kyamukama’s big moment of change came when he was forced to be constantly on run as he tried to survive and evade the authorities.
Poaching also became more risky as he continued to track the big game, including the fierce buffaloes. “Buffaloes are dangerous animals and if you’re not lucky enough, it can kill you. Also at times you would go poaching and come out with nothing,” Kyamukama says.
All these forced Kyamukama out of the illegal trade as he too became hunted. He soon joined his hunters, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to save himself and the animals he formerly hunted.
“After getting a job, I ignored poaching and found that it was better to have a job where you earn every month. Sometimes I could go poaching and come back with nothing, yet every month when I work, I have to earn Shs680,000. It’s better than poaching, so I ignored poaching to join wildlife conservancy where I worked as a game ranger at the rank of corporal, and embarked on protecting the environment from destruction by humans before I retired,” he says.
Kyamukama now says working as a community conservationist enabled him to sensitise the public about the dangers and risks in poaching.
He now dedicates his time to stopping destructive activities to the environment such as illegal logging and poaching and inspiring change of behaviour among poachers.
“The message I give to poachers is that they should come out and join conservation group because if you are conserving, you get people to know you, employ you to earn a more secure living, unlike poaching, which is dangerous to both poachers and the animals,” he says.
Indeed, the head of department, Kibale Forest National Park, Mr Godfrey Baryesiime, says they have gone ahead to sensitise the public about the dangers of poaching and also encouraging poachers to join them and conserve wildlife.
Tourism is ranked among the top performing sectors in the country, contributing more than $1.4 billion (Shs5.1 trillion) in revenue in the last year.
