Land grabbers fence off disputed Nakawa wetland

The National Environment Management Authority (Nema) and Mr John Imaniraguha, the purported owner of a wetland in Nakawa, say they do not know the people who have planted concrete poles to fence off the desputed pieace of land.
In an interview with this publication on Sunday, Mr Tony Achidri, the spokesperson of Nema, said they deployed a combined team of military and environment police to demolish poles and iron sheets which had been used to fence off the wetland.

Since 2021, Nema stopped issuing approvals for any developments on wetlands.
“Nema demolished the iron sheets because the developer did not get the requisite approvals since Nema stopped issuing approvals in 2021. As far as we are concerned, this is a critical wetland system and for any development to take place there, the developer should undertake an environmental impact assessment,” he said.
Mr Imaniraguha, who claims ownership of the land, said he was not notified about the demolition, and neither is he aware of the concrete poles being erected on the land measuring almost a hectare.

“Those people did not inform me about the demolition. I think they are working with land grabbers to take it. I cannot do anything, but I put my complaint and I am waiting for a response from police,” he said.
Since 2010, Mr Imaniraguha, the proprietor of Fuelex gas stations, has been fighting with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and Nema over the wetland, which once had a lagoon collecting sewerage from Naguru, the Police Barracks, Ntinda and parts of the Nakawa-Ntinda Industrial Area.

In 2012, the businessman attempted to setup a fuel station on the same land and another in Bunga, Kampala, but KCCA and Nema demolished the structures claiming they were illegal and had no Environmental Impact Assessment report.
Late last year, while erecting the iron sheets, which were demolished last week, Mr Imaniraguha said he had finally managed to secure all the approvals to develop the two wetlands.

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