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Parliament has halted a budget line provision of sh7b to the Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC) for breeding of lions.

The recommendation forms part of the report on the ministerial policy statement for the 2024/25 Financial Year (FY) that was presented by trade committee vice-chairperson Catherine Lamwaka on April 11, 2024.

Deducting from the report, the funds were meant to go towards boosting the dwindling number of lions in national parks with a target output of breeding 16 lions a year.

However, in their report, lawmakers contend that much as the proposal was quite innovative, the proposed return on investment was low.

Additionally, it was also discovered that the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and UWEC had both submitted budgets for Impact Assessment (EIA) that cost sh280m and sh500m respectively, for lion breeding.

This, they say was peculiar given the fact that UWEC is the only mandated body charged with breeding lions in vicinities managed by UWA.

Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC). (File)

“The Committee recommends that UWEC should review its feasibility study and conduct benchmarks on the return-on-investment on in-situ lion breeding and present it for reconsideration during the next budget cycle for FY 2025/26. Additionally, the Committee recommends that UWEC and UWA should harmonise their mandates, regarding lion breeding in national game parks and protected areas,” Lamwaka said.

👉Uganda Parliament tasks UWEC with explaining sh10b lion breeding

Lion at the zoo. (File photo)

As of December, last year, the number of lions in Uganda stood at 493, elephants 7,975, while mountain gorillas were 459. 

Electric fence

However, on the other hand, the committee okayed a proposal by UWA to limit human-wildlife conflicts by erecting an 80km electric fence around Murchison falls National Park.

Official documents seen by New Vision Online show that the undertaking will be financed by $1.34 million (about sh5.1b) off budget support from the World Bank (WB).

To this regard, it is also understood that UWA will also receive an additional budget allocation of sh5.04b from the Government.

Fast forward, the committee asked the tourism ministry to incorporate all expected external finance in its annual budget proposals for consideration and final appropriation by Parliament.

According to Isaac Otimgiw (Padyere county, NRM), fencing national parks will save the Government from meeting huge compensation costs arising from animals destroying crops and humans.

“Wildlife attacks on our communities have increased to over 7,000 annually… But also, we need a clear channel for applicants requesting for compensation. Most of them do not know the way on how to access this money and the compensation policy is also very slow,” Otimgiw observed.

Resources

Official documents indicate that the overall budget for the tourism ministry and its subventions is projected to drop by sh43.825b in the forthcoming fiscal year from sh221.568b that was approved in FY 2023/24.

Under the Third National Development Plan, Uganda has targeted to cumulatively attract 281,760 international tourist arrivals from the US, Europe and China but only 67,252 arrivals were registered by the end of the first half of FY 2023/24.

The committee was further informed that the aforementioned category was a key target source for leisure tourists who stay longer but for reasons not known, their numbers continue to drop.

Sh4b tourism promotion funds

As such, it is understood that the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) had requested for sh4b to engage international and national media houses in production of positive tourism stories to improve destination perception.

Unfortunately, this money has not been provided, something Dickson Kateshumbwa (Sheema municipality, NRM) says is worrying.

However, he pointed out that the majority of this malaise is self-inflicted.

“We don’t have national content that you can actually distribute across the globe to market the country called Uganda. That’s why when you go to some countries, they will ask whether you have gorillas or not, yet we have the biggest percentage of gorillas in the whole world,” Kateshumbwa said.

“And when you are sending ambassadors out there, give them content. You go to an embassy and you cannot even find a flyer about Uganda, how will they market Uganda?” he added.

Fast forward, he argued that Uganda needs to upgrade its internet connectivity in national parks, good roads, water and electricity in tourist hotspots. Also, he says the country needs to make visa applications simple and the Government must be mindful about spreading alarming messages.

On this note, Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa narrated an incident where a Ugandan MP at the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) was overcharged entry park fees while transiting through the Murchison falls park.

“The issue was because of her number plate which was for EALA, East African Community; you charged her a higher figure that she was not a Ugandan. As an individual you charged her as a Ugandan but they are saying the car is not Ugandan, the car belongs to East Africa yet it is supposed to be the same rate,” Tayebwa intimated.  

However, state minister for tourism Martin Mugarra intimated that this was an anomaly.

“The rates for East Africans are the same rates we charge for Ugandans. Be it the vehicle, be it the individual. So probably, it is something I can revisit,” Mugarra said.