Bugolobiâ€"Kitintale swamp in danger of extinction

Jul 05, 2009

WHO would have believed that Bugolobi and Kitintale would one day become one continuous settlement? Ben Wanyama, a resident of Bugololobi says a decade ago Bugolobi hill with its plush houses ‘boastfully’ stood out of the crowd. <br>

By Gerald Tenywa

WHO would have believed that Bugolobi and Kitintale would one day become one continuous settlement? Ben Wanyama, a resident of Bugololobi says a decade ago Bugolobi hill with its plush houses ‘boastfully’ stood out of the crowd.

He says below it was an expansive swamp that separated Bugolobi from settlements of poor people in Kitintale, to the east and Kanyogoga to the west.

Now, it appears that the rich people and the poor residents of Kintintale have conspired to reclaim the swamp.
While developers keen on identifying with Kampala’s cream that own houses in Bugolobi have eaten into the swamp, the poor in their thousands have also poured into the same swamp.

They have discovered that cheap land is still available in the swampy areas.
“Unless drastic measures are taken, Nakivubo swamp will disappear in a few years to come,” says Wanyama.

“People have become too desperate that they no longer care about the dangers of reclaiming the swamp.”

Four years ago, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) in the name of saving the remaining part of the swamp moved in ruthlessly demolishing a house belonging to Godfrey Nyakana the then councilor at Kampala City Council (KCC).

This made people realise that NEMA was not a “toothless barking dog” and Dr. Aryamanya Mugisha, who heads NEMA demanded that the wetland should be kept for posterity.

At the same time, NEMA established borders over that portion of the swamp in Kitintale, bringing hope that the activities that had started in 2002 to establish Nakivubo as a wetland reserve would soon be concluded.

But almost a decade after a colourful ceremony that was presided over by the late Kezimbira Miyingo, the then state minister for environment, the process awaits completion.

As Government’s efforts to secure the borders of Nakivubo drag on, the intending encroachers have not been sleeping.

Many illegal houses have been built in the vicinity where Nyakana’s house was razed and no one has intervened to stop the rampant reclamation of the swamp.

“I became the sacrificial lamb because I do not support encroachment,” says Matovu Gonzaga, the former Bugolobi LC1 chairperson.

“It is hurting that the plunderers of the wetlands are the ones benefiting and the people who abide by the law are not gaining.”

Matovu was blamed by Nyakana’s sympathisers for failing to stop NEMA from descending on the illegal house and razing it.

Asked why NEMA did not proceed to break all the illegal buildings in the wetland, Mugisha said: “When we demolished Nyakana’s house a number of legal battles started and we could not proceed with demolition.

“In some cases the developers were compliant, but those that have flouted the law, the same law will soon catch up with them.

We have been working hard to secure Kampala’s critical wetlands including Lubigi, Kinawataka and we have not forgotten Nakivubo.”

When The New Vision made a survey across the wetland three years ago, the portion of the wetland separating Bugolobi from Kitintale was exposed to danger.

Today, Bugolobi is about to merge with Kitintale as one continuous settlement. “The slum in Kitintale is expanding rapidly at an unimaginable rate,” says Matovu.

“It is about to cut off the neck of the swamp, which serves as a catchment area for parts of Luzira and Kitintale.”

Other encroachers approaching from Kanyogoga slum (near Muyenga) and Namuwongo are closing in towards Bugolobi. This side with its plush residences, will soon brush shoulders with the occupants of the crumbling houses.

“Houses seem to sprout daily like mushrooms and nothing is being done,” says Amina Masiga, a resident of Kitintale. “I hope action will be taken promptly before the swamp is totally destroyed.”

Masiga’s queries have come at a time when Lake Victoria is becoming green, due to pollution from organic wastes from Kampala city and effluent from factories.

The commissioner in charge of the Wetlands Management Department Paul Mafabi, says the Nakivubo swamp acts as a natural filter removing waste from the waste-water running from Kampala.

“That is why the Government should gazette it so that it purifies waste-water cheaply,” says Mafabi. “The wetland which we wanted to protect will eventually be lost.”

Three decades ago, Nakivubo swamp was about 6.8km, but encroachment has reduced this to only about half of the original size of the area.

“There is a part of the wetland that receives the waste-water and storm water from Kampala. The middle part is supposed to hold and the last part, which has floating vegetation is supposed to release the clean water into the lake,” says Mafabi.

However, the part which receives water has been reclaimed and the encroachers are moving deeper towards the heart of the swamp.

Mafabi points out that some of the problems afflicting wetlands are beyond the environmental bodies and that they need to be addressed to save the urban wetlands.

For instance, Kampala was built to accommodate a few people, but the population has swollen without adequate provision of urban amenities like proper housing.

Apart from the residential areas like Kololo, Nakasero, Bugolobi, Makerere, Old Kampala and parts of the housing estates of Nakawa and Naguru, the rest of Kampala remains unplanned.

Without implementation of the Kampala master development plan, organised construction has become a dream and encroachment on wetlands has become the order of the day.

As environmentalists insist on keeping the wetland intact, KCC has never cancelled the leases offered to developers three decades ago.

In addition to this, LCs also get bribes from people intending to build houses.
“This in a way legalises the stay of the encroachers and instead of condemning encroachers local Government officials defend them at the time of impending eviction,” says Matovu, who shares pain with Wanyama.

He believes that people have mastered the rules and they are now callously breaking them.

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