Otafiire raps Sudhir, Basajja over wetlands

Apr 11, 2005

THE Minister for Environment, Kahinda Otafiire, has lashed out at big shots engaged in destruction of wetlands, saying they were breaking the law.

By Gerald Tenywa

THE Minister for Environment, Kahinda Otafiire, has lashed out at big shots engaged in destruction of wetlands, saying they were breaking the law.

Otafiire said businessmen who build on wetlands and others using them as dumping sites were the biggest problem.

“Sudhir Ruparelia and Hassan Bassajjabalaba (city tycoons) are destroying the wetlands because they don’t know their value,’’ Otafiire said yesterday at a forum convened for Peter Bridgewater, the secretary general of the Ramsar Bureau based in Switzerland at Grand Imperial Hotel.

This was the first time that a high-ranking government official is publicly attacking the businessmen for encroaching on swamps.

Sudhir’s flower firm, Rosebud, was at one time at the centre of controversy after expansion into Lutembe Bay.

Bassajjabalaba recently began reclaiming part of Kinawataka wetland, which is a vital swamp in filtering waste water.

Two years ago, the Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, visited Rosebud and ordered the National Environment Management Authority to clear cultivation of flowers into the swamp.

Otafiire said wetlands should be put to sustainable use including fish farming and eco-tourism.

He blasted Uganda Clays, saying their production process was based on wetlands and should preserve them.

Paul Mafabi, the assistant commissioner of the Wetlands Inspection Division, said wetlands acted as “a water granary.’’

The meeting was organised ahead of the conference of contracting parties under the Ramsar Convention that will take place in Uganda from November 7 to 15.

Ramsar is a city in Iran where the Convention on Wetlands was adopted more than three decades ago.

Bridgewater said water should be keenly attended to in Africa like else where.

Otafiire said some encr-oachers including Sudhir were in league with law enforcement agencies.
Otafiire warned those who demonstrate against lawful eviction, saying he would crush them.

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