By Rashid Muzungyo

STATE minister for tourism Serapaio Rukundo has called for the arrest of people encroaching on Mountain elgon Forest National Park.

Rukundo asked the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to work with the Police in documenting evidence and collecting exhibits to facilitate the prosecution of culprits.

He said this would deter other people from encroaching on the park.
Rukundo said the encroachment was a threat to the tourism sector and climatic patterns.

He explained that areas surrounding the park are important for sustainable socio-economic development.

He was speaking on Thursday while touring the park in Bumbo sub-county in Manafwa district where dozens of encroahers have established illegal homesteads and gardens over the past one month.

Addressing district councillors and government extension workers at the district headquarters, the minister said the park was established by an act of Parliament that provide for regulations for its conservation.

He said if the people were not supportive of the existence of the park, they should ask their councillors and Members of Parliament to demand a reverse of of the law.

They should demolish their structures and stop cultivation or else they should be taken to court,” the minister threatened.

The district vice-chairman Fred Maina said the fresh encroachment was a result of a statement made by an official from the prime ministers office.

The park warden, Johnson Masereka, explained that the encroachment started last month.