By Patience Ampaire
Masaka City leaders and National Forestry Authority (NFA) officers almost exchanged blows over the management plan of the Kkumbu forest.
This occurred on Friday when the political team led by Mayor Ms. Florence Namayanja attempted to conduct community service works in the Kkumbu forest by clearing the thick lowest canopy as a response to public outcry of high insecurity cases to deter criminal gangs from hiding there an activity contested by NFA officers.
Ms Namayanja in company with Kimaanya-Kabonera Municipality lawmaker Dr. Abed Bwanika, Buddu Ssaza chief Pookino Jude Muleke, other leaders, and masses decided to tour the forest to ascertain its current state.
This sparked a bitter exchange between leaders and the NFA team led by Greater Masaka sector manager Mr. Robert Mubokhisa who alerted security and responded with heavy ant-riot deployment that forcefully halted leaders from touring the jungle and all other planned activities.
Mr. Dickson Mutambuze Chairperson LC 1 Kijjabwemi A said that NFA has failed to manage this forest and it’s becoming a security threat in the area.
“Four people have been killed and their bodies dumped in this forest, women have been raped and many other cases, we just wanted to cut down the thick shrubs which are too close to roads which hide criminals.”
Ms Agnes Namata a resident of old Kkumbu said that they used to gather raw materials and firewood but it’s hard to risk going there now.
“We’re the ones who tasked the mayor to mobilize us for this community service unfortunately NFA has responded with impunity instead of guiding us,“ she noted.
Pookino Jude Muleke one of the pioneers of this initiative which is conducted every last weekend of a month to improve sanitation in the city, told Monitor that NFA intended to block leaders from discovering fully that the forest remained at the outskirts.
“According to what we have seen, trees inside the ecosystem are being felled down, as NFA was notified we expected it to support the process,” he said.
Ms Namayanja accused the Authority of turning the forest into their venture and vowed to further efforts of conserving it as they address the challenges it poses to the community.
“Those are false accusations because our primary goal is to conserve the forest but on several occasions, I invited NFA to community meetings to agree on the appropriate measures of curbing the public outcry they refused to show up.”
Dr. Abed Bwanika argued the public to keep calm as they devise means of addressing the mess.
“Am set to write to the director general for NFA to secure proper guidance on how we should handle this situation, yes we need the forest but we can’t just look on when our people are being murdered” he emphasized.
Mubokhisa insisted that no one will threaten him while doing his rightful work.
“We had to stop them because they had invaded the forest to put it down which is not allowed, we had allowed them to clear only five meters of the undergrowth vegetation on the forest edges but defied the technical guidance.”
He dismissed the allegations of permitting the cutting of trees illegally and said that they have endeavored to protect the forest amid a myriad of interests and threats.
Kkumbu forest is located in the heart of Masaka on the upper edge of Nabajjuzi wetland, it also serves as its catchment system, it was gazetted in 1946.
Recently, during the Masaka City budget stakeholders meeting, a section of Kimaanya-Kabonera Division leaders petitioned the city council to sanction the clearing of the forest to create more land for industrialization a proposal trashed by the Mayor on grounds of being irrelevant.
Credit: Daily Monitor.
