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KITGUM - President Yoweri Museveni has directed the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities to put an electric fence along the border of Kidepo Valley National Game Park to stop marauding elephants from invading the community.

While speaking as the chief guest during the thanksgiving and homecoming ceremony of Lillian Aber, Minister of State, for relief, disaster preparedness, and refugees on Saturday at District Farm Institute in Kitgum Municipality, the President said the continuous invasion by elephants in the communities neighbouring the park can be solved by putting up an electric fence.

The President inquired from NRM secretary general Richard Todwong how the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) handles issues of elephants invading the communities bordering the park.

Todwong in his response said UWA has erected an electric fence at the border of the Murchison Falls National Park which has reduced elephants from invading the community, adding that there are a few cases of elephants marauding in Nwoya, especially in areas where the electric fence is not yet erected.

The President’s directive follows a request by Kitgum district chairman Christopher Obol Arwayi who requested that he intervenes on the issue of marauding elephants.

Obol said for over four years now, people bordering Kidepo Valley National Park in the areas of Orom and Namukora sub-counties in Kitgum district, are suffering as elephants invade their homes and gardens, destroying crops and other properties.

He said the communities whose property was destroyed by elephants are not compensated, despite the government putting in place a law paving the way for compensation to victims.

Obol said most of the communities stay in poverty as they do not have food to provide for their families and requested the President to expedite their compensation.

Foreign affairs state minister Henry Oryem Okello said elephants are the biggest burden to communities in the areas bordering the park.

He said once elephants invade those areas, communities chase them by beating jerrycans and other objects and that UWA warned the community not to kill or hurt any elephant, adding that sometimes communities just see elephants destroy their crops as they fear the laws.

Surveillance drones

However, Richard Muhabwe, the chief warden of Kidepo Valley National Park said in January this year that they introduced drones for surveillance in 2021 for passive surveillance of wildlife straying to human settlements and driving them away using sound.

He said once elephants or buffalos enter the community, they send rangers who chase them by firing in the air to drive them into the park.

Muhabwe said they have also recruited community volunteers to be community wildlife scouts with funding from conservation partners.

He said they have trained and equipped the community wildlife scouts in animal intervention where they work together with rangers to mitigate wildlife conflicts by driving the animals away from people’s gardens.

Gertrude Kirabo, a senior warden of community conservation, said through a livelihood intervention done with support from the revenue-sharing project, the community bordering the park placed over 200 beehives along the park boundary.

She said once the beehives are colonised, it will minimise instances of elephants encroaching into the community as they are not friendly with bees.

Kirabo said the communities have invested their revenue sharing into the ecotourism projects with the intention to be able to tap into tourists coming to the park.

She said in a season they register between five to six cases of injuries and two deaths arising from wild animal attacks.

Kirabo said once they register such cases they follow up and take the victims to the hospital for treatment, starting the follow-up process of compensation once the victim is discharged.

She said four people who were either injured or died due to attacks by wild animals in the community have received their compensation.

Kirabo said currently, communities of Karenga district are still submitting their claims for crop compensation, citing that the compensation regulation is still new.