Legislators on the Parliamentary Forum for Conservation and Sustainable Tourism (PFCST) have piled pressure on the Government to operationalise the Uganda Wildlife Act 2019.   

Richard Muhumuza Gafabusa (Bwamba County, NRM), the forum’s chairperson, and Flavia Rwabuhoro Kabahenda (Kyegegwa DWR, NRM), echoed this while addressing the press on Monday, August 21. 

Kabahenda contended that developing regulations will go a long way in protecting endangered species like the eastern chimpanzees which are on the brink of extinction. 

“Uganda is home to around 5,000 eastern chimpanzees and these are in Kibaale National Park, Rwenzori National Park, Budongo and Bugoma forest. Some fragmented chimpanzees are found around Busia and Tororo and maybe other areas in Uganda,” Kabahenda cited. 

“Actually, it should be the Ministry of Tourism that should produce the regulations to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to act and they have delayed. I am sure the Committee on Trade, Tourism and Industry has been putting UWA on task to bring these regulations.  

“I think the first message they gave is that as they were trying to develop the regulations, Covid-19 came around and so they delayed. But now we are asking ourselves since 2020 why the regulations are not here. Yes, possibly it could be financing but financing doesn’t stop you from presenting the regulations,” she said. 

During a plenary debate in August last year on the compensation of wildlife victims, tourism minister Dr Tom Butiime told the House that they were in the process of rolling out these regulations. 

Butiime specifically pointed out that enabling Uganda Wildlife (Compensation) Scheme Regulation 2022 No. 65 had been gazetted. However, for reasons not known, four years after the law was passed, the duo claim regulations have not materialised. 

Dr Goodall’s visit 

Kabahenda’s concerns come in the midst of renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall’s visit to Uganda which commenced Sunday and ends on Friday, August 25. Born on April 3, 1934, Goodall is an English primatologist and anthropologist. 

She is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, after 60 years of studying the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees. The London born is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute which is a global non-profit at the pinnacle of community-driven conservation efforts. 

During her stay in the country, Goodall will take time to visit the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee sanctuary which is celebrating 25 years and hold a public lecture at Sheraton Kampala Hotel. 

According to Gafabusa, this development is timely in various aspects and calls for soul searching. 

“This visit of Dr Jane Goodall has come at a time when as a country we really need conservation efforts much more than ever before. I think this is an opportunity to engage and rally all our conservation actors in the country, and the region including civil society, the private sector, Government agencies, MDAs, policymakers as well as the media so that we have collective action for conservation which has been a campaign for decades,” Gafabusa reasoned. 

He added that one of the greatest obstacles that stand in the way of Uganda’s tourism potential is limited funding from Government. Official documents indicate that in this fiscal year, the sector was allocated sh249bn, up from sh194.7bn in the previous year. 

“Considering the fact that tourism is one of the largest foreign exchange earners for the country and therefore our argument has been that the return on investment for the tourism sector is much higher and our call has been that we need to enhance the funding because, for every coin we put in for the development of tourism in Uganda, the multiplier effect of that is like three to four times. Looking at our neighbours for instance, if you look at the funding of the tourism sector in Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania and considering the fact that we are more naturally endowed in terms of tourism potential, we should be able to put in a lot more,” Gafabusa observed. 

Deducing from a circular that State Minister for Tourism Martin Mugarura presented to Parliament in January last year, prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism was the leading foreign exchange earner raking in $1.6 billion (sh5.9trillion).