Civil society calls for action on wetland encroachers

PIC: Participants after a meeting on disaster preparedness and management in Kampala. (Credit: Francis Emorut)

ACTIVISM

KAMPALA - The civil society organisations (CSOs) have urged the Government to evict illegal wetland encroachers to preserve the environment and avoid disasters.

Through their umbrella organisation Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), they said: "We are kin to disaster management and recommend the environment ministry in collaboration with the National Environment Management Authority and other state agencies to expedite the process of evicting illegal encroachers on wetland across the country," Mark Agong the CSBAG budget specialists said.

Agong was presenting a paper titled: The Disaster Prepared and Management issues Parliament must consider when debating the FY 2018/2019 budget during disaster preparedness and management meeting in Kampala.

He was representing the executive director of CSBAG, Julius Mukunda.

The CSOs argued that the continued encroachment on wetlands contravenes the policy provisions and Presidential directive on wetlands restoration.

They called on Parliament and the lines ministries to  preserve the resettlement Action Plan for projects listed in the Budget Framework Paper (BFP).

"The Government should come up with a well-streamlined comprehensive guidelines and standards for public works, which will address complaints due to poor valuing and inadequate compensation," Agong said.

Other issues of concern raised were high incidents of road carnage across the country.
They outlined solutions among them, the establishment of a self-accounting autonomous government-funded legal agency to manage and co-ordinate road safety interventions and activities.

Others are strict enforcement of the national road safety policy and periodic motor vehicle inspection, as well as the installation of CCTV cameras, which are linked to the road traffic data system and community sensitisation and review of road designs.

The Oxfam official, Gladys Nawaga, stressed the need for quick disaster response plans.

She emphasised that the capacity of citizens should be built so that they are able to influence governance resilience and humanitarian disaster preparedness.

The Kinkizi West MP, James Kaberuka, informed participants that the Government had allocated sh77b for disaster response through contingency, but said it was inadequate.

Participants from Butaleja and Sironko complained of lack of disasters measures in place since their areas are prone to disaster.