Farmers encroach on Kawoya wetland area
BANDA market traders and farmers have encroached on Kawoya wetland
By John Kasozi
BANDA market traders and farmers have encroached on Kawoya wetland. Kawoya wetland has a total area of 0.52 square kilometres.
Located partly in Nakawa division and Kiira sub-county, the nearby villages include Banda, Kireka and Kamuli. This permanent wetland occupies a shallow and relatively narrow valley below Banda and Kamuli hills draining into Kinawataka swamp. It has patches of papyrus and relics of swamp forest upstream. It is part of Lake Victoria catchment area.
Late last month, environmental inspectors carried out an inspection of the wetland to assess the compliance of land use with environmental laws and regulations.
The findings indicated that the wetlands had been degraded over time.
“We have issued the traders with an Environmental Improvement Notice (EIN),†Wilfred Baanabakintu, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) public relations officer said. The document revealed construction wetlands, dumping of solid wastes, erection of structures, slashing and trampling on the ground for creating a market.
The activities being carried out on the site are illegal and had no approval by NEMA contrary to the National Environment Act Cap 153. According to Wetlands and the Law, August 2000, “No one in Uganda can lay claim to ownership of any wetland or part of wetland if that claim was made after the coming into force of the constitution 1995.†It is in Uganda’s national policy for sustainable development to protect wetlands for ecological purposes.
Even in mailo land, wetlands remain as land held in trust by government for Ugandans according to 1900 Uganda Agreement.
No government department can lease out any specified natural resource; and that includes wetlands according to the Land Act of 1998.
The ecological functions of wetlands include maintenance of water table, prevention of erosion and reduction in extreme flow and sediment traps.
Wetlands receive a lot of run-off water from surrounding hills and helps to regulate the rate of flow reducing soil erosion.
The improvement notice served to the traders and farmers instructed them to vacate the wetland. This was to allow natural wetland regeneration and restore it to its original green state including refilling the drainage channel, level the area and allow free movement of the water and flooding the wetland.
The statement read, “All construction and wetland clearing operations and selling of products in the wetland must have ceased by midnight last month.
They were given two days from the date when they were issued with the notice to comply with the environmental orders.
Joseph Nsubuga, the traders’ secretary, said they should be given enough grace period to leave. “The short notice puts many of the farmers in the tight corner. The money used by some farmers is borrowed from micro-finance institutions and yet it has to be paid soon.â€
BANDA market traders and farmers have encroached on Kawoya wetland. Kawoya wetland has a total area of 0.52 square kilometres.
Located partly in Nakawa division and Kiira sub-county, the nearby villages include Banda, Kireka and Kamuli. This permanent wetland occupies a shallow and relatively narrow valley below Banda and Kamuli hills draining into Kinawataka swamp. It has patches of papyrus and relics of swamp forest upstream. It is part of Lake Victoria catchment area.
Late last month, environmental inspectors carried out an inspection of the wetland to assess the compliance of land use with environmental laws and regulations.
The findings indicated that the wetlands had been degraded over time.
“We have issued the traders with an Environmental Improvement Notice (EIN),†Wilfred Baanabakintu, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) public relations officer said. The document revealed construction wetlands, dumping of solid wastes, erection of structures, slashing and trampling on the ground for creating a market.
The activities being carried out on the site are illegal and had no approval by NEMA contrary to the National Environment Act Cap 153. According to Wetlands and the Law, August 2000, “No one in Uganda can lay claim to ownership of any wetland or part of wetland if that claim was made after the coming into force of the constitution 1995.†It is in Uganda’s national policy for sustainable development to protect wetlands for ecological purposes.
Even in mailo land, wetlands remain as land held in trust by government for Ugandans according to 1900 Uganda Agreement.
No government department can lease out any specified natural resource; and that includes wetlands according to the Land Act of 1998.
The ecological functions of wetlands include maintenance of water table, prevention of erosion and reduction in extreme flow and sediment traps.
Wetlands receive a lot of run-off water from surrounding hills and helps to regulate the rate of flow reducing soil erosion.
The improvement notice served to the traders and farmers instructed them to vacate the wetland. This was to allow natural wetland regeneration and restore it to its original green state including refilling the drainage channel, level the area and allow free movement of the water and flooding the wetland.
The statement read, “All construction and wetland clearing operations and selling of products in the wetland must have ceased by midnight last month.
They were given two days from the date when they were issued with the notice to comply with the environmental orders.
Joseph Nsubuga, the traders’ secretary, said they should be given enough grace period to leave. “The short notice puts many of the farmers in the tight corner. The money used by some farmers is borrowed from micro-finance institutions and yet it has to be paid soon.â€