Forest officers want guns
Aug 19, 2009
FORESTRY officials have appealed to the Government to give them guns as a way of averting the increasing murders of their staff by illegal pit-sawyers and mobs.
By Conan Businge
FORESTRY officials have appealed to the Government to give them guns as a way of averting the increasing murders of their staff by illegal pit-sawyers and mobs.
In a statement, National Forestry Authority (NFA) chief Damian Akankwasa said the request was made to increase the safety of the staff.
This will be in addition to a recent pledge by the Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen Kale Kayihura, to create a Police unit that will address forestry related crimes.
The need for a security boost in the forestry authority follows recent murders of staff in different parts of the country.
The unauthorised extraction of forest produce, Akankwasa said, had rendered his staff as prime targets for “gruesome attacksâ€.
Between January and July, three forestry officials have been murdered by illegal pit-sawyers.
Two of them, Alfred Ezati and Emmanuel Asiimwe, were murdered in Jubiya Central Forest Reserve.
The third, Richard Kalemera, his pregnant wife and three-year-old child were burnt in their house in Buikwe sub-county.
Another forestry worker, Ambrose Tibarimu, a driver, is still hospitalised after a mob cut him with machetes before setting ablaze the authority’s vehicle in Buikwe.
“The NFA is grappling with building the morale of the staff working and living with the horror and fear,†Akankwasa said.
FORESTRY officials have appealed to the Government to give them guns as a way of averting the increasing murders of their staff by illegal pit-sawyers and mobs.
In a statement, National Forestry Authority (NFA) chief Damian Akankwasa said the request was made to increase the safety of the staff.
This will be in addition to a recent pledge by the Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen Kale Kayihura, to create a Police unit that will address forestry related crimes.
The need for a security boost in the forestry authority follows recent murders of staff in different parts of the country.
The unauthorised extraction of forest produce, Akankwasa said, had rendered his staff as prime targets for “gruesome attacksâ€.
Between January and July, three forestry officials have been murdered by illegal pit-sawyers.
Two of them, Alfred Ezati and Emmanuel Asiimwe, were murdered in Jubiya Central Forest Reserve.
The third, Richard Kalemera, his pregnant wife and three-year-old child were burnt in their house in Buikwe sub-county.
Another forestry worker, Ambrose Tibarimu, a driver, is still hospitalised after a mob cut him with machetes before setting ablaze the authority’s vehicle in Buikwe.
“The NFA is grappling with building the morale of the staff working and living with the horror and fear,†Akankwasa said.