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Wetland eviction victims storm Nema offices
Ms Diana Nakiganda, 37, with her child at their makeshift shelter on June 18, 2024 after their house was demolished during the evictions from Lubigi Wetland. PHOTO/NOELINE NABUKENYA
What you need to know:
The people, accused of encroaching and degrading Lubigi wetland, had petitioned Nema on June 2, seeking the review of restoration/eviction orders which were issued to them by the authority. Those whose property was already demolished are seeking compensation
Government yesterday deployed police to calm tensions at the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) premises in Kampala as hundreds of people affected by the ongoing wetland evictions in the Kampala metropolitan area, protested the authority’s actions.
The people, accused of encroaching and degrading Lubigi wetland, had petitioned Nema on June 2, seeking the review of restoration/eviction orders which were issued to them by the authority. Those whose property was already demolished are seeking compensation.
Information from Nema indicates that the appeal against the eviction orders was set for hearing yesterday at 2pm at Nema House boardroom.
Mr William Lubuulwa, the senior public relations officer of Nema, said they failed to conduct the meeting because the number of complainants who turned up was large.
“These residents are from Nabweru South and a few villages surrounding that [area]. They had come to Nema seeking to speak to us but they were very many, more than the needed number,” he said in an interview yesterday.
In response to the intense pressure at the Nema premises yesterday, an immediate confidential meeting involving Dr Akankwasah Barirega, the Nema executive director, Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and other city officials was held to strategise a possible solution amid victims’ frustration.
After the meeting, Mr Lukwago said they agreed to resurvey the premises and confirm the list of victims who never appended signatures through respective local councils with the help of legal officers.
He said the exercise will start today in Nabweru South and Kawaala. He said this will help confirm who was given eviction notice and those who were not, and also provide a final list on July 24 to determine the next course of action.
“There are two petitions, that of Kawaala II and Nabweru South where restoration orders containing the number of victims where some appended signatures and others did not and we agreed that they should be given a chance of hearing,” he added.
Mr Lubuulwa, on the other hand, said: “It was agreed that smaller numbers of petitioners with similar issues will be heard one at a time to enable proper evaluation of their grounds for the petition.”
