Africa-Press – Uganda. The Masaka District Forestry enforcement team, together with the Environmental Police Protection Unit have pulled down a barbed wire fence that was erected around part of Kyakumpi Local Forest Reserve.
The forest reserve, measuring approximately 10 hectares is located along Masaka -Mbarara Bypass in Masaka City’s Nyendo-Mukungwe Municipality, but its ownership has long been disputed.
Masaka District Forestry officer Willy Bbaale told that they were alerted by residents near the forest about unscrupulous individuals who were fencing off the land.
“Unscrupulous individuals including Hajji Baker Ntale and Yusuf Kiku were found unlawfully subdividing plots, planting boundary mark stones, erecting a barbed wire fence and willfully cutting down trees within the area forming part of the forest reserve” he observed.
He added: “The National Forestry Authority (NFA) has verified coordinates of the planted boundary mark stones for the illegally created Plot 33-35 submitted by my office and found it to be inside the gazetted Kyakumpi Forest Reserve and our operations were based on the above findings.”
According to Bbaale, said the contested forest reserve has never been de-gazetted or changed regarding its land use.
“…therefore, any kind of development taking place there is totally prohibited,” he emphasized on Saturday.
One of the men accused of encroaching the forest reserve,Yusuf Kiku, claimed that he lawfully purchased the land, and has proof of ownership .
“The land in question is not part of the forest reserve; it’s just adjacent to the said forest reserve. I bought it in 2005 after conducting a thorough search with the Masaka Zonal Lands office and found out that it wasn’t encumbered,” he maintained.
Prossy Kabanda, the spokesperson for Biodiversity Conservation Foundation (BCF), asked authorities to ensure that all titles in this forest reserve are cancelled with immediate action.
About the forest reserve
Kyakumpi Local Forest Reserve serves a number of purposes that include serving as a catchment area for Nakayiba wetland.
The forest reserve also serves as a natural filter and processor of waste water that feeds into the Nabajjuzi wetland system which is the main source of piped water for Masaka City.
Nabajjuzi wetland system is a tributary of the River Katonga basin that drains into Lake Victoria. The system is also a protected Ramsar site, with more than 180 bird species, which are among the globally threatened species.
According to Buganda Land Board (BLB), the land occupied by the forest reserve belongs to Buganda Kingdom yet Masaka District considers it as public land. In April 2022, police together with the district forestry department arrested 10 BLB officials who were surveying the forestry land.
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