Matiri Forest encroachers lose court petition

The Magistrates' Court in Kyenjojo district has dismissed a petition filled by over 200 households challenging their eviction from Matiri Central Forest Reserve in Kyenjojo district. 

The over 200 households were last year evicted from Matiri by the National Forestry Authority (NFA) after it was discovered that they had illegally encroached into the forest and had degraded it. 

The evictees ran to court claiming compensation on grounds that they had stayed on piece of land for years and had also put permanent installations. 

The NFA on the other hand claimed that they had carried out the eviction as one of the ways of recovering the forest cover.

However the claims did not stop court from issuing an injunction barring both NFA and the victims of the eviction from using the land. 

Today court led by Suleiman Muhumuza lifted the court order and allowed the NFA to go ahead with its plans of restoring the lost forest cover. 

In his ruling Muhumuza ordered that the victims should not be compensated since they had illegally stayed in the forest reserve for long and had benefited by growing both food and cash crops there. 

He added that this should be a lesson to other forest encroachers in Uganda.