Mweya Lodge golf course spells doom
Apr 20, 2006
I would like to thank my former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Uganda Wildlife Authority(UWA), John Nagenda, for his “One Man’s Week†column in New Vision of April 14.
I would like to thank my former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Uganda Wildlife Authority(UWA), John Nagenda, for his “One Man’s Week†column in New Vision of April 14. Through his article, we now know that the Madhvani Group of Companies are still ‘flexing’ their political and economic ‘muscles’ to establish a golf course in a prime conservation area in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Their argument is to attract more tourists into the Park and hence contribute to the national economy. However, the national Tourism Policy 2002 advocates for low impact, high-paying, ecologically friendly tourism referred to as “eco-tourismâ€. What a contradiction.
I would like to add more information to Nagenda’s well researched column referred to above about the success business story of the Madhvanis in Uganda. My additional information is about the private sector investment in managing Queen Elizabeth National Park as a biodiversity hot spot. I argue that the Madhvanis may not be after increasing tourist arrivals in the country, but creating their own business empires that may not be in line with the tourism policy of Uganda and will at best only meet exclusive rights and business interests of the Madhvani Group of companies.
The golf course will not benefit the national economy, neither will it benefit the local Ugandans especially those neighbouring the Park and bear the biggest share of costs to maintain Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the oldest National Parks in Uganda established in 1952. Its prime attractions are the diverse, high density wildlife populations especially the big mammals such as elephants, hippos, buffaloes, Uganda kobs, leopards and lions to mention but a few.
Geographic features and land formation processes such as volcanic actions add unique attributes to the Park to be preserved as a national and international heritage. The highly productive fresh water lakes of George and Edward with their historic human livelihood support through fishing led to its declaration as a Man and Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO’s auspices, signifying the need to respect community needs for survival of the Park.
Both in policy and management terms, the Park has been managed and successfully marketed both locally and internationally as a revered biodiversity hotspot and not a mere recreational facility where to play golf in the Park’s prime conservation zones. Where recreation has been planned within the Park it has been considered for the sake of biodiversity and wildlife conservation and not solely for business interest that threaten the very existence of this natural national heritage.
To ensure that the unique attractions of this Park would be enjoyed in an ecologically accepted manner by park visitors both national and international, the Uganda government through Uganda Hotels Ltd established the Mweya Safari Lodge in the early 1960s. Uganda Hotels Ltd managed this lodge till 1991, when the government privatised it.
During the 1960s and early 1970s before the impact of bad governance by the Amin era were felt, Mweya became a famous tourist destination both locally and internationally and had a positive impact on the economic justification, especially among neighbouring local communities for ‘setting aside’ land for wildlife as Queen Elizabeth National Park.
At the time of privatising Mweya Safari Lodge, the Madhvani negotiated for and got the then Uganda National Park Board of Trustees to sign a debenture – a legal document that allowed the investor to use the National Park’s land as a collateral security for the Bank loan to rehabilitate the lodge. Considering that the Park is owned in Trust by all Ugandans, it was not in order for a private investor to use government’s property to secure a private bank loan to invest in property they had got from government under the privatisation program.
The first thing that the Madhvanis did after taking over Mweya Safari Lodge was to put a chain link fence to enclose what they considered was their property. This was negatively viewed by both neighbouring local population who rightly interpreted this move as a way of excluding them from accessing the Lodge that they were used to visiting to enjoy the tranquil of their God given treasure.
From the ecological point of view the fence was also assessed to hinder movement of wildlife, hence potentially leading to increase in wildlife accidents. Also the fences were an ‘eye-sore’ from a tourist point of view, which the Madhvanis were agitating to promote.
After heated debates between management of Uganda Wildlife Authority and Madhvanis and threats of reporting to the highest office in the land about those sabotaging investors, the fences finally were partly pulled down. Remnants of these fences can still be seen on the Mweya peninsula.
After the debates about fences had subsided, there followed the demand to have a golf course among other things such as having exclusive rights over the Kazinga Channel and Lake George to operate tourists boats. The justification for a golf course according to the Madhvanis is that they had heavily invested in the lodge and to realize their returns, they needed to get more visitors to increase the occupancy rate which averages above 80% for Mweya since 2001 to date.
The negative attributes of the golf course were explained to the Madhvanis while its merits in promoting tourism were also carefully listened to and considered. In the wisdom of UWA Board (2002-2005) which wisdom was shared and agreed among different stakeholders including the number one Honorary Warden of UWA, a site near Katwe Township that met all the interests of golfers as presented by Madhvanis, but also avoided ecological and eco-tourism policy concerns was identified and given to the developer.
It is indeed surprising that even after all these negotiations and explanations that the Madhvanis are still lobbying, taking advantage of absence of a serious Board of Trustees for UWA to protect technical views of management, to pressurise the a go-ahead to develop a golf course in a prime conservation area.
The question that begs an urgent and nationally important answer from all Ugandans is; do the Madhvanis need to establish a golf course in a prime conservation area of Queen Elizabeth National Park to promote tourism in Uganda or are they bent on building and promoting their business empire for solely their own exclusive interests? It will be such a big shame if... It needs a careful consideration and watch it.
Ends
I would like to add more information to Nagenda’s well researched column referred to above about the success business story of the Madhvanis in Uganda. My additional information is about the private sector investment in managing Queen Elizabeth National Park as a biodiversity hot spot. I argue that the Madhvanis may not be after increasing tourist arrivals in the country, but creating their own business empires that may not be in line with the tourism policy of Uganda and will at best only meet exclusive rights and business interests of the Madhvani Group of companies.
The golf course will not benefit the national economy, neither will it benefit the local Ugandans especially those neighbouring the Park and bear the biggest share of costs to maintain Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the oldest National Parks in Uganda established in 1952. Its prime attractions are the diverse, high density wildlife populations especially the big mammals such as elephants, hippos, buffaloes, Uganda kobs, leopards and lions to mention but a few.
Geographic features and land formation processes such as volcanic actions add unique attributes to the Park to be preserved as a national and international heritage. The highly productive fresh water lakes of George and Edward with their historic human livelihood support through fishing led to its declaration as a Man and Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO’s auspices, signifying the need to respect community needs for survival of the Park.
Both in policy and management terms, the Park has been managed and successfully marketed both locally and internationally as a revered biodiversity hotspot and not a mere recreational facility where to play golf in the Park’s prime conservation zones. Where recreation has been planned within the Park it has been considered for the sake of biodiversity and wildlife conservation and not solely for business interest that threaten the very existence of this natural national heritage.
To ensure that the unique attractions of this Park would be enjoyed in an ecologically accepted manner by park visitors both national and international, the Uganda government through Uganda Hotels Ltd established the Mweya Safari Lodge in the early 1960s. Uganda Hotels Ltd managed this lodge till 1991, when the government privatised it.
During the 1960s and early 1970s before the impact of bad governance by the Amin era were felt, Mweya became a famous tourist destination both locally and internationally and had a positive impact on the economic justification, especially among neighbouring local communities for ‘setting aside’ land for wildlife as Queen Elizabeth National Park.
At the time of privatising Mweya Safari Lodge, the Madhvani negotiated for and got the then Uganda National Park Board of Trustees to sign a debenture – a legal document that allowed the investor to use the National Park’s land as a collateral security for the Bank loan to rehabilitate the lodge. Considering that the Park is owned in Trust by all Ugandans, it was not in order for a private investor to use government’s property to secure a private bank loan to invest in property they had got from government under the privatisation program.
The first thing that the Madhvanis did after taking over Mweya Safari Lodge was to put a chain link fence to enclose what they considered was their property. This was negatively viewed by both neighbouring local population who rightly interpreted this move as a way of excluding them from accessing the Lodge that they were used to visiting to enjoy the tranquil of their God given treasure.
From the ecological point of view the fence was also assessed to hinder movement of wildlife, hence potentially leading to increase in wildlife accidents. Also the fences were an ‘eye-sore’ from a tourist point of view, which the Madhvanis were agitating to promote.
After heated debates between management of Uganda Wildlife Authority and Madhvanis and threats of reporting to the highest office in the land about those sabotaging investors, the fences finally were partly pulled down. Remnants of these fences can still be seen on the Mweya peninsula.
After the debates about fences had subsided, there followed the demand to have a golf course among other things such as having exclusive rights over the Kazinga Channel and Lake George to operate tourists boats. The justification for a golf course according to the Madhvanis is that they had heavily invested in the lodge and to realize their returns, they needed to get more visitors to increase the occupancy rate which averages above 80% for Mweya since 2001 to date.
The negative attributes of the golf course were explained to the Madhvanis while its merits in promoting tourism were also carefully listened to and considered. In the wisdom of UWA Board (2002-2005) which wisdom was shared and agreed among different stakeholders including the number one Honorary Warden of UWA, a site near Katwe Township that met all the interests of golfers as presented by Madhvanis, but also avoided ecological and eco-tourism policy concerns was identified and given to the developer.
It is indeed surprising that even after all these negotiations and explanations that the Madhvanis are still lobbying, taking advantage of absence of a serious Board of Trustees for UWA to protect technical views of management, to pressurise the a go-ahead to develop a golf course in a prime conservation area.
The question that begs an urgent and nationally important answer from all Ugandans is; do the Madhvanis need to establish a golf course in a prime conservation area of Queen Elizabeth National Park to promote tourism in Uganda or are they bent on building and promoting their business empire for solely their own exclusive interests? It will be such a big shame if... It needs a careful consideration and watch it.
Ends