Uwec takes over Botanical Gardens 

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has directed Uganda Wildlife Education Conservation Centre (Uwec) to take over the management of the Entebbe Botanical Gardens from the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) with immediate effect in a bid to promote conservation, education and tourism of the gardens.

“The current mandate and focus restrict Entebbe Botanical Gardens activities to only plant research, information generation and minimal conservation education,” Ms Nabbanja said yesterday in Entebbe.

She added:“The government strongly believes that in addition to the traditional roles, Entebbe Botanical Gardens should also be developed and equipped with facilities so that we can facilitate tourism promotion, conservation education and awareness recreation, among other services.” 

She made the remarks while officiating at the handover of the management of the 40-hectare gardens to Uwec under the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities from Naro, which is under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF).

Ms Nabbanja said the move follows President Museveni’s  May 8, 2023 directive in which he asked her to oversee the handover.

“Whereas the Entebbe Botanical Gardens were established for research purposes under the management of Naro, the gardens could be a great tourism attraction site. I recall in 1965 while I was still a student at Ntare School, we took a school trip to the Botanical Gardens and it was a good learning experience, which I have not forgotten. The gardens should, therefore, be promoted for conservation, education as well as tourism,” Ms Nabbanja read part of President Museveni’s letter to her.

Ms Nabbanja, who ordered Naro officials to handover the gardens’ land titles to Uwec, said a lack of facilities to promote tourism and conservation education at the gardens is one of the major reasons for the change of management for the gardens.

“It is clearly evident that the Botanical Gardens lack facilities and amenities including adequate security, toilets, interpretation and information boards, trees, a docking pier, accommodation facilities, modern restaurants. Because of the lack of facilities the management must change,” she said. 

Ms Nabbanja said the Ministry of Tourism is expected to take stock of what is on the gardens and develop a sustainable plan, upgrade and enhance the quality of services to attract more visitors, transform the gardens as part of the Lake Victoria tourism circuit, establish a partnership at both local and international levels to place the gardens on the world market among other initiatives to generate and increase revenue to contribute to the national gross development product (GDP).

The Director General of Naro, Dr Yona Baguma, said the two entities would develop a mutually compatible plan to manage the gardens that were established in 1898 for agricultural research in the country.

“Research can coexist with tourism but the coexistence must be compatible. Let the entities develop a strategic plan to roll out that mutual coexistence plan,” he said. 

The Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Mr Tom Butime, said the development of the gardens will greatly increase the tourist numbers to Uganda annually.   

“Botanical gardens are an important component of nature-based tourism, they devote their resources to the conservation of plants and creating awareness on the world’s plant bio diversity. Botanical gardens worldwide attract more than 750 million visitors each year. Uwec received more than 400,000 visitors in 2022 remaining the best preferred destination for domestic tourists in Uganda,” he said.

Mr Butime, however, called for interplay between tourism and conservation of the plants .

“The initial thinking and strategy of the first curator A Whyte, who laid them out in 1898, must be respected, coupled with conservation for the future generations,” he said. 

The Uwec Executive Director, Mr James Musinguzi,  said they are going to develop the gardens in collaboration with Naro.

“I want to assure Ugandans that nobody is going to parcle out plots of land. I have seen on X people saying we are going to build hotels, no, we don’t even want to touch a single tree because this is a place of high conservation significance ,” he said.