Africa-Press – Uganda. The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has come under pressure from political leaders and conservationists in Madi Sub-region over the construction of a fuel station inside East Madhi Wildlife Reserve in Adjumani District.
Daily Monitor
confirmed that the fuel station located at Apaa Township in the heart of East Madi Game Reserve, is owned by Stabex International Ltd, an oil marketing company operating in the country.
Nearly nine months ago, Friends of Zoka, a conservation activism group based in West Nile, raised a red flag after bushes in the reserve were cleared and construction of the fuel station begun under the guard of armed Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) personnel.
Even after its completion, UPDF soldiers can still be seen deployed around it.
Mr William Amanzuru, the coordinator Friends of Zoka, said UWA must be put to account for the mess citing a likely compromise and corruption.
“Uganda Wildlife Authority must account to us the people of this country, not only the Madhi, they must explain how a fuel station and a communication mast operates in the reserve,” Mr Amanzuru said.
“Who permitted the construction and under what agreement was it secured is all that everyone wants to know. I think this is a heightened plan intended to grab this gazetted land,” he added.
In an interview with Daily Monitor in August, Mr Ben Anyama, the Adjumani District chairperson, said: “UWA should have blocked the developer from doing that [constructing the fuel station]. We have petitioned UWA to take immediate action.”
Mr Anyama added that UWA failed to prove that the developer was officially granted access to build the facility inside a reserve.
“They could not prove whether an environmental impact assessment was done and also explain why the fuel station was more important to build inside a reserve than any other area,” he said.
Mr Santo Okot, a resident of Apaa Village, said they were stunned by the establishment of the fuel station inside the reserve without the intervention of UWA.
“Putting the facility inside the reserve shows double-sidedness by UWA because if they have been chasing people, who are not even inside the reserve, why should they allow some wealthy person to build a petrol station there?” Mr Okot asked.
“This is a clear indication that Apaa township is not in the game reserve as alleged by UWA so they should stop disturbing them unless they have another motive in that land,” he added.
Several attempts to speak to the management of the firm were futile as they did not pick up our calls.
However, in an interview with Daily Monitor, Ms Marian Mbabazi, the fuel station manager, said the facility was built in six months and that necessary documents had been given to them by government.
She, however, declined to give more details on grounds that she had been cautioned by her bosses not to speak to any authority over the matter.
When contacted, Mr Martin Mugara Bahinduka, the State Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities said he was not aware of the facility adding that it was illegal.
Mr Mugara promised to follow up the matter with UWA so that action is quickly taken to remove the facility from the area with immediate effect.
UWA reacts
Early this month, Mr Wilson Kagoro, the community conservation warden for Murchison Falls National Park under which the reserve falls, said the developer sneaked into the reserve and built the fuel station in the night when UWA staff were off duty.
“By the time our staff realised, it was already up and getting complete and to get into action, we needed a court injunction to stop the whole process and operation,” Mr Kagoro said.
He added: “We are aware of it, but there was no due diligence that was done for that petrol station; so it is an illegal facility.
However, it is still in the process of being evicted.”
He admitted that there was a lot of contention about illegal facilities and encroachment on the reserve.
