Prime
Lukwago, Nema disagree on Lubigi evictions resolution
Military and police personnel provide security as an excavator demolishes a container as part of National Environment Management Authority operations to evict people from Lubigi Wetland, Nansana Municipality in Wakiso District on June 18, 2024. PHOTO | MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
- At the start of June, encroachers on Lubigi wetland were forcibly evicted on the orders of Nema after the 21 days they were given to vacate the area elapsed.
Kampala Lord mayor Erias Lukwago has refuted information provided by the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) on the results of a Monday meeting to sort out the impasse over the Lubigi wetland evictions.
After a two-hour meeting, Nema officials issued a statement insisting that the evictions were lawful and will continue.
“The meeting agreed that the current restoration exercise should go on, but that the local council leaders should mobilise their communities that have encroached on the wetlands to vacate peacefully,” the statement read in part.
However, in an interview with Monitor yesterday, Mr Lukwago said Nema was giving distorted information regarding resolutions from the meeting.
“The meeting resolved that the operations in Kampala be halted pending the constituting of the District Natural Resources and Environment Committee as provided for in Section 27 of the Nema Act, 2019,” he said.
Mr Lukwago said the committee will include himself, other Kampala City Division mayors and the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) technical team.
He added that they resolved that Nema expedite the process of instituting an appeals review mechanism to consider and resolve petitions by residents who have been served with restoration orders, but are challenging the same.
The other resolutions cited by Mr Lukwago were that Nema should liaise with the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) and KCCA to ascertain the project affected persons (PAPs) who are waiting for compensation for the Jinja Expressway and Lubigi Channel works.
They also agreed that the city leadership and Nema jointly conduct community outreach programmes to engage the communities over the environmental issues and concerns, according to the Lord Mayor.
He said they resolved that Nema should conduct “an evaluation of irredeemable areas in Kampala for further engagement and consideration at policy level.”
But Nema in their statement on Monday said five resolutions were reached after their two-hour discussion. Among the resolutions Nema cited was that “anybody who has been served with a restoration order, and contests the order an appeal review system should be expedited to timely hear and resolve the petitions.”
Other resolutions were that Nema should formally write to KCCA and Unra to ascertain claims of people who allegedly are waiting for compensation over the Jinja Expressway and Lubigi Channel works respectively.
Nema was also tasked to work closely with local governments and the Ministry of Water and Environment in the ongoing restoration exercise and the Natural Resources and Environment Committee for KCCA should be constituted by July 15 to help coordinate the environment activities with Nema.
Addressing journalists on Monday, Dr Akankwasa Barirega, the Nema executive director, said: “If you think the restoration order has been issued to you in error, the restoration order gives you the chance to appeal to court for review or appeal to Nema to review the order.”
He said when one defies the order, one may be prosecuted, imprisoned, fined Shs600 million or required to compensate the government for the restoration.
“You have up to 21 days to either appeal the order or vacate and restore the place. Once 21 days elapse, the government is left with no choice other than to remove you using minimum or no force,” he said.
Background
Dr Akankwasa Barirega, the National Environment Management Authority executive director, says satellite images show that Lubigi wetland measures 1,721 hectares, with about 480 of those hectares still intact. The rest has been degraded.
At the start of June, encroachers on Lubigi wetland were forcibly evicted on the orders of Nema after the 21 days they were given to vacate the area elapsed.
