The Kikuube Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Godwin Angalia is living in fear after allegedly receiving several threats for protecting Bugoma central forest reserve from encroachers.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Uganda Radio Network (URN), Angalia alleges 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 has for now, declined to divulge details of those threatening his life.Bugoma forest reserve is currently facing massive depletion despite being officially guarded by the National Forestry Authority (NFA).
Several individuals have penetrated the forest reserve carrying out illegal activities such as timber logging, charcoal burning and cultivation among others. Some of the individuals are said to have fraudulently acquired titles in the forest reserve.
Since his deployment in Kikuube last year, Angalia has put up a spirited fight especially against encroachers in the forest reserve.
Several individuals have been arrested with several trucks of charcoal belonging to high profile government officials impounded, he sayd. Angalia now alleges that, his life has been threatened by some of the encroachers who up to now continue to intimidate him.
Angalia says protecting the forest is a courageous act carrying risks due to the high economic stakes involved in land encroachment, logging, and agricultural expansion. He says, despite being threatened and intimidated, he is determined and courageous to guard the forest from being depleted saying, it is one of the reasons he was deployed in the district.
Angalia says, after putting intense operation against the encroachers, many rich and high profile government officials who had encroached on the forest land have started vacating the area quietly.
He says, fighting illegal activities in the forest reserve needs collective efforts by all stake holders including political, cultural and Kingdom leaders.
According to Angalia, several trucks loaded with charcoal illegally burnt from the forest reserve have been impounded warning those still intending to do illegal activities to immediately vacate.
Recently, Stuart Maniraguha, the Executive Director (ED) of the National Forestry Authority (NFA) told URN that they had secured pillars that they have started installing across the forest boundary to prevent further encroachment.
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 center 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 Bugoma forest but the Kingdom’s ancestral land that is adjacent to the reserve. URN