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Kagadi, Uganda | THE IDENDEPENDENT | Security officials in Kagadi have destroyed more than 20 acres of crops planted in various wetlands in the district.
The crops that were destroyed on Wednesday included maize, Cabbages, sugarcane plantations, rice, yams and beans among others. The operation was headed by Lilian Ruteraho, the Kagadi Resident District commissioner-RDC.
She was joined by National Environmental management Authority – NEMA officials and officials from the Kagadi district Environment office.
The operation was conducted at Hemu and Wabituju Wetlands in Nyankubebe and Kisura villages in Bwikara sub county where encroachers had cleared the wetlands and planted crops.
According to Ruteraho, the destruction of the crops planted in the wetlands is meant to achieve their goal of restoring degraded wetlands in the district. She says her office with that of NEMA would remove all illegal structures, plants and crops from wetlands, close drainage channels and enforce massive evictions.
The RDC states that, severally her office issued eviction notices and sensitized communities to desist from clearing wetlands for cultivation, but all in vain. She explained that this prompted them to embark on a massive operation of destroying all crops planted in wetlands in the district and have all those encroachers forcefully evicted.
Ruteraho says that, they are implementing a Presidential Directive to ensure that they get rid of encroachers from Wetlands warning that the operation will cover the entire district.
Section 36 of the National Environment Act, which provides for the protection of wetlands and prohibits reclamation, and erection of illegal structures empowers authorities to demolish any structure that is fixed in, on, under, or above any wetland.
The Act also empowers districts to manage wetlands within their jurisdictions and ensure that their boundaries are demarcated so that even as water levels and wetland vegetation recede, the communities are clear on where the boundaries lie.
The destruction of the crops follows the arrests and detention of nine suspects accused of encroaching on the two wetlands in the district.
The suspects were arrested on Tuesday evening during an impromptu operation conducted by the Kagadi Resident District Commissioner – RDC. They were reportedly found cultivating in the wetlands.
The suspects who are currently being detained at the Kagadi central police station have since been identified as Racheal Alishaba, Agness Ninsiima, Racheal Kamukama, Omuhereza Kemigisha, Omuhereza Akugizibwe, Donozio Bagonza, Robinah Atuhairwe, Florence Tukahirwa and one only identified as Tusiime, all residents of Kisura and Nyankubebe villages in Bwikara sub-county in Kagadi district.
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