President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has directed the Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba to investigate top army officers said to be conducting illegal activities in Bugoma Central Forest Reserve in Kikuube district.
Museveni, in a letter dated February 23rd, 2026, addressed to the Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja, the Prime Minister of Uganda, stated that he had received a letter on October 6th, 2025, from Hon. Tom Butime regarding the degradation, deforestation, and encroachment of the Bugoma forest reserve.
“All this must stop forthwith. I have also been informed that UPDF is involved in charcoal burning in the forest. I therefore direct as follows. By the copy of this letter, the CDF is directed to cause an investigation as to who these alleged UPDF personnel who are destroying the forest are,” he stated.
In the same letter, the President has also directed the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the government agency responsible for wildlife conservation, to take over the role of protecting the forest.
He has also ordered that all encroachers must be evicted without exception.President Museveni, in the same letter, directs that the Forest reserve be upgraded into a national park to accord it maximum protection.
“I direct the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) to take over the role of protecting the forest reserve.”
All encroachers must be evicted without exception. Why? I used to fly over Bugoma forest when we had just come from the bush. There was no human settlement, just as was the case in Zoka forest.
Therefore, all encroachment is recent and deliberate, knowing that they are invading government property. They must go and no talk of compensation.
That would tantamount to impunity. Let us upgrade Bugoma into a National Park to accord it maximum protection. Bugoma is very crucial for our ecosystem as a catchment area for several rivers, carbon dioxide absorption, among others,” Museven stated in the letter.
The letter is copied to the Vice President, Minister of Water and Environment, the Chief of Defense Forces, and the Attorney General.Bugoma forest reserve is currently facing massive depletion despite being highly guarded by the National Forestry Authority (NFA).
Several high-profile and top government officials are said to have penetrated the forest reserve, carrying out illegal activities such as timber logging, charcoal burning, and cultivation, among others. Some individuals are alleged to have fraudulently acquired titles in the forest reserve.
Last month, the Kikuube Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Godwine Angalia said his life was being threatened by top government officials who accused him of protecting the Bugoma Central Forest Reserve from encroachers.
Angalia alleged that he had received several threats and intimidation from high-profile government officials, tycoons, and political leaders ever since he launched an operation against encroachers in Bugoma Central Forest.
He noted that protecting the forest is a courageous act carrying risks due to the high economic stakes involved in land encroachment, logging, and agricultural expansion.
Recently, Stuart Maniraguha, the Executive Director (ED) of the National Forestry Authority (NFA), told URN that they had secured pillars that they had started installing across the forest boundary to prevent further encroachment.
Several environmentalists and residents have protested the ongoing destruction of Bugoma forest, warning that continued depletion of the forest risks displacing chimpanzees and undermining the area’s growing eco-tourism sector.
Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, covering 410 square kilometres of a protected area, and a stretch of forest measuring 40 kilometres, is a tropical forest in Kikuube district, gazetted in 1932 and taken over by the NFA in 2003.
It is endowed with a high Biodiversity with 24 species of mammals, 465 species of trees, 359 species of birds, 289 species of butterflies, and 130 species of moths. The mammals include monkeys, chimpanzees, buffalo, Uganda Kobs, and elephants.
A 2012 Chimpanzee census discovered that 10 per cent of Uganda’s Chimpanzee population was in Bugoma forest. The forest is also a migratory route for wild animals connecting to game parks and a catchment area for rivers that drain into Lake Albert and the river Nguse, where the government plans to build a hydro power dam.
Situated near the Kingfisher oil field, the Forest is expected to play a crucial role in absorbing greenhouse gas emissions during oil drilling and also act as a rain modifier to boost agriculture.
In 2016, the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom leased 22 square miles of the said forest land to Hoima Sugar Limited for sugarcane growing for 99 years.
However, the National Environment Management Authority -NEMA found 13 of the 22 square miles unfit for a sugar plantation and recommended their preservation since it is a wetland and forest reserve.
As a result, NEMA allowed Hoima Sugar factory to cultivate sugarcane on the remaining 9.24 square miles covering the grassland, establish an urban centre on 1.26 square miles, an eco-tourism centre on 1.97 square miles, and restore 3.13 square miles of the forest reserve.
They also recommended the preservation of another 0.156 hectares for the cultural site and 6.17 square miles as a natural forest.
However, several conservationists have opposed the move, saying the giveaway is not only a threat to the ecosystem and endangered species, but it is likely to hurt tourism activities, which are a source of revenue for the local communities and the country.
Bunyoro Kitara explained that land leased to Hoima Sugar is not part of the Bugoma forest but the Kingdom’s ancestral land that is adjacent to the reserve. URN