Lubaga South Member of Parliament John Ken Lukyamuzi has faulted Maria Mutagamba, the Minister of Water and Environment and her team for doing little to save the country from the worsening environmental degradation.
Lukyamuzi, also the Shadow Minister for Environment was on Tuesday speaking at the National World Environment day celebrations at Kijabwemi Primary school in Masaka town. Lukyamuzi, who was speaking alongside Mutagamba, said he was disturbed by the minister’s failure to stop massive encroachment on the forests and wetlands in the country.
Lukyamuzi identified some of the hugely degraded areas as Lake Victoria shores, Albertine Grabben, Lubigi wetland in Kampala and several forests around the country.
Lukyamuzi, while pointing at Mutagamba, asked her and her team to wake up from what he called the slumber and name and shame all the government officials involved in grabbing forest land and wetlands.
Lukyamuzi also accused National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) of being sloppy in producing and compiling impact assessment reports in regard to oil exploration.
// Cue in: “A green economy…….
Cue out:…..oil refinery.”//
In response, Minister Mutagamba admitted facing challenges in addressing environment issues. She also admitted that several hectares of Lake Victoria shores have been destroyed by encroachers on but says the ministry has deployed over 150 environment protection police to evict them.
Mutagamba however says government has a strategy to deal with oil exploration in the Albertine Grabben which awaits implementation.
// Cue in: “We have done…….
Cue out:…..where we are now focusing.”//
Pauline Nabadda, the Masaka Municipal Environment officer, says the municipality is also facing a problem of encroachers resisting eviction from Nabajjuzi Ramsar site. She identified one of them, Gonzaga Mayanja, the Masaka District Planner who has defied eviction and went ahead to construct a beach in Nabajjuzi wetland.
She says they have given Mayanja the last notice asking him to demolish his structure before police forcefully evicts him.
Mayanja declined to speak to URN on the matter saying he is not obliged to do so.
Recently, Rakai environment officers and Apollo Sansa Kabumbuli, the Kamuswaga of Kooki also clashed over harvesting of trees in Rakai forest reserves.
