Mbarara residents to face eviction over encroachment
Oct 14, 2010
THE National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation have vowed to evict residents in Mbarara town who encroach on wetlands and sewage ponds.
By Fred Turyakira
THE National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation have vowed to evict residents in Mbarara town who encroach on wetlands and sewage ponds.
Over 20 homes in Kijungu and Kisenyi in Mbarara town face eviction.
“The Public Health and NEMA Act says the public should not go beyond the buffer zone of 30 feet from the lagoons, but they have destroyed the greenbelt and gone beyond the buffer zone,†said Jeoconius Musingwire, the south-western region environment officer.
He was addressing on Monday told journalists in his office at Kamukuzi in Mbarara district.
The encroachers also risk acquiring diseases from inhaling the smelly air from the lagoons.
Musingwire added that some people take contaminated water from the sewage ponds, which can transmit diseases.
He blamed the Mbarara authorities for failing to enforce the law barring construction in wetlands and near sewage ponds.
Musingwire also warned encroachers into Ndeija, Keiho, Rwemigina, Kashari wetlands who were degrading the streams connecting to River Rwizi in Mbarara district.
When David Opoka, the National Water and Sewerage Corporation general manager for Mbarara region, was contacted over the encroachment, he said they would evict the encroachers.
“They will face the law. Our lagoons have been there for over 40 years. We cannot see why houses constructed in four years should displace us from our property,†he said.
Opoka also warned of action against people who cut the chain-link fence at Kijungu sewage pond and created walkways through the protected area.
Stratus Mushabe, the Mbarara municipality town clerk, said they would work with NEMA to evict the encroachers.
THE National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation have vowed to evict residents in Mbarara town who encroach on wetlands and sewage ponds.
Over 20 homes in Kijungu and Kisenyi in Mbarara town face eviction.
“The Public Health and NEMA Act says the public should not go beyond the buffer zone of 30 feet from the lagoons, but they have destroyed the greenbelt and gone beyond the buffer zone,†said Jeoconius Musingwire, the south-western region environment officer.
He was addressing on Monday told journalists in his office at Kamukuzi in Mbarara district.
The encroachers also risk acquiring diseases from inhaling the smelly air from the lagoons.
Musingwire added that some people take contaminated water from the sewage ponds, which can transmit diseases.
He blamed the Mbarara authorities for failing to enforce the law barring construction in wetlands and near sewage ponds.
Musingwire also warned encroachers into Ndeija, Keiho, Rwemigina, Kashari wetlands who were degrading the streams connecting to River Rwizi in Mbarara district.
When David Opoka, the National Water and Sewerage Corporation general manager for Mbarara region, was contacted over the encroachment, he said they would evict the encroachers.
“They will face the law. Our lagoons have been there for over 40 years. We cannot see why houses constructed in four years should displace us from our property,†he said.
Opoka also warned of action against people who cut the chain-link fence at Kijungu sewage pond and created walkways through the protected area.
Stratus Mushabe, the Mbarara municipality town clerk, said they would work with NEMA to evict the encroachers.