Residents reject city eviction
May 11, 2006
OVER 10,000 residents of Namuwongo who are facing eviction from the Nakivubo wetland have contested the move, and are seeking compensation before leaving.
By Gerald Tenywa
OVER 10,000 residents of Namuwongo who are facing eviction from the Nakivubo wetland have contested the move, and are seeking compensation before leaving.
In a meeting convened on Sunday by Kampala City Council, the National Environment Management Authority and the Wetlands Inspection division at Kiwuliriza Primary School, the residents were told that they were encroaching on the Nakivubo wetland.
Residents said they had bought the land from “land lords’’ and that a plot went for between sh500,000 to sh2m.
“We are going to protest the takeover of our land,’’ said Masengere, the LC1 chairperson.
Speaking about the establishment of borders around Nakivubo swamp, Norah Namakambo from the Wetlands Inspection Division said the wetland filters waste from the city.
She said without it, Lake Victoria would get contaminated and costs for water treatment would escalate making it prohibitive, especially for the poor, to access water.
Namakambo said the National Water and Sewage Corporation is left to deal with only 40% of the waste as the natural vegetation in the wetland remove 60% of the waste.
OVER 10,000 residents of Namuwongo who are facing eviction from the Nakivubo wetland have contested the move, and are seeking compensation before leaving.
In a meeting convened on Sunday by Kampala City Council, the National Environment Management Authority and the Wetlands Inspection division at Kiwuliriza Primary School, the residents were told that they were encroaching on the Nakivubo wetland.
Residents said they had bought the land from “land lords’’ and that a plot went for between sh500,000 to sh2m.
“We are going to protest the takeover of our land,’’ said Masengere, the LC1 chairperson.
Speaking about the establishment of borders around Nakivubo swamp, Norah Namakambo from the Wetlands Inspection Division said the wetland filters waste from the city.
She said without it, Lake Victoria would get contaminated and costs for water treatment would escalate making it prohibitive, especially for the poor, to access water.
Namakambo said the National Water and Sewage Corporation is left to deal with only 40% of the waste as the natural vegetation in the wetland remove 60% of the waste.