Legislators on the Tourism Committee of Parliament have asked officials from the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) to provide a breakdown of the sh10b required for lion breeding, saying they won’t land themselves in problems by trying to defend a figure they know nothing about.

With sh10b, how many additional lions do we expect? This money is for one financial year. So, if we give you sh10b beginning July 2024, by June 2025, how many additional lions will you have?" Richard Gafabusa MP (Bwamba County) asked.

The committee was on Tuesday interacting with the UWEC team led by David Musingo, the Acting Executive Director. The Entebbe-based group (UWEC management) was appearing before the committee to defend their budget.

“For the starting stock, we shall get four lionesses and one lion. At a later stage, we shall get the same numbers, bringing the total number to eight. We are going to have like two areas to accommodate the groups separately,” said Musingo.

Responding to concerns about the fertility rate, Musingo replied, "They will get pregnant. In fact, the lions we have are on family planning. But through genetics, you select the viable population.”

He used the opportunity to appeal for Parliament's protection. “Chairperson, I want to be protected. We have the international community of Animal Fundamentalists trying to shoot down this project, and we are going to defend it during the dialogue where we shall share all that nitty gritty.”

Early this year, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities tabled the request to increase the numbers. The chairperson Parliament Committee on Trade and Tourism, Mwine Mpaka, justified the budgetary allocation to increase the lions’ population after their numbers dropped from 460 in 2022 to around 320 lions due to human-wildlife conflicts.

“Tourism requires sh10 billion to start breeding lions through Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC). We now have 15 lions at UWEC which we have been breeding, but the lion population in the country has gone down because of human-wildlife conflict. We are now going to start breeding them in the wild in Queen Elizabeth, Kidepo and Murchison Falls National Parks,” Mwine submitted before the budget committee on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.

Out of the 10 national parks in Uganda, lions’ are only in three namely; Kidepo Valley, Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls National Parks.