Govt urged to intervene and save Wakiso wetlands

The Wakiso district senior environment officer Esau Mpoza has urged government to establish cheap houses for Ugandans so that wetlands can be saved from encroachers.

Mpoza made the remarks while expressing concern about the increasing degradation on wetlands in the district saying if the government has a housing plan, it can provide low cost houses for the low income earners who are fond of degrading the wetlands.

Answering the question why they do not promptly evict the people living in Wakiso's wetlands, Mpoza blamed the law that lengthens the whole process.

"Before an eviction is made there are things to be done and this includes marking the boundaries of the wetlands, sensitizing the people living in wetlands and the letter gives them days to leave and this process cannot be done in a short time," said Mpoza.

He also appealed to government to make sure that all Ugandans are equal before the law which is not the case today. Some people degrade the environment simply because nobody will evict them.

According to Mpoza, Wakiso is covered by 16 percent wetlands but they are all under threat from the increasing population in the district for human activities which includes settlement and other economic activities.

The rapid development of Kampala city has seen many people leave Kampala to Wakiso district giving an example of maize mills which have been established in wetlands like in Nateete and Kabojja areas and this a big challenge to the authorities.

Mpoza's other concern was the inadequate staff members which gives people a chance to settle in wetlands without any interference and on this note he appealed to the district authorities to consider recruiting more environmental workers.

"There is a capacity gap in terms of man power, town councils and sub counties do not have environmental focal persons and this leads to luck of efficiency and effectiveness," Mpoza added.

Wakiso district administrative officer Dunstan Yiga Mukasa said that the district is going to fight wetland encroachers and in this financial year which has just started they are planning to recruit more environmental workers in the district.

Mukasa however, called upon all residents in Wakiso district to work together with the district authorities to fight wetland encroachers in order to preserve the environment.

The natural resources officer in Wakiso district Rebecca Ssabaganzi also said that the district has no budget for eviction. Eviction is very expensive in terms of manpower needed to do this task which Wakiso does not put it into consideration she said.