Government is mute, more than one year after the completion of the boundary opening report on Bugoma Central Forest Reserve in the Midwestern region.
In August 2022, the government through the ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development completed the survey process of opening the boundary of Bugoma Central forest reserve in Hoima and Kikuube districts.
Environmental activists told the mighty TV10GanoMazima that ever since the completion of the boundary opening exercise, the report has never been released and or made public to solve the protracted legal battle that is pending before the Court of Appeal.
Officials at the National Forest Authority (NFA) said that the move sought to solve the protracted dispute that is pending before the Court of Appeal.
The boundary opening came amidst an ongoing and pending legal battle in which the NFA is challenging the issuance of the land title to Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom and subsequent releasing of the disputed forest land to Hoima Sugar Limited.
NFA sued Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom, Omukama Solomon Gafabusa, Hoima Sugar Limited and the Commissioner for Land registration challenging the destruction of the forest reserve.
The case now awaits hearing and determination before the Court of Appeal.
Conservationists have demanded that the cabinet releases and disseminates the final survey report to solve the protracted dispute.
They say that despite conclusion of the survey exercise more than a year ago, the report has never been made public or disseminated yet the destruction of the reserve is continuing unabated to the detriment of the environment.
Companies which include; Hoima Sugar Limited and MZ Agencies as well as individuals are claiming that they own portions of the forest reserve.
Kiboga District Woman Member of Parliament and a conservationist, Christine Kaaya said that there are illegal occupants on the forest and land as well as others holding illegal titles and the only remedy is to have a survey and boundary opening report to solve the impasse.
“The survey exercise was completed but some people are bribing, while others are influencing the report. We also understand that there is a lot of harmonization by the different surveyors and stakeholders,” Kaaya said.
According to the legislator who is also the shadow minister for environment, the protection of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve would help to absorb the emission from the oil area.
She lamented, “The discriminatory nature of enforcing the laws is another problem because most of the people involved in the Bugoma forest dispute are big shots and the presidential directives do not affect them. We are saying, let them release the survey report and the harmonization can be done later.”
When contacted, Dennis Obbo, the spokesperson in the Ministry of lands said that the exercise was completed for the cabinet to guide on the next steps.
“The survey was done in response to a cabinet directive and we followed the guidance and process. We submitted the report to the cabinet and a cabinet memo,” he said in a phone interview.
Without commenting on what will happen next, Obbo insisted that the Ministry of lands officials did what the cabinet directed them to do.
Cabinet issued a directive in 2019 to the Ministry of Water and Environment to open the boundaries of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve after it was trapped in controversy over land dispute.
Officials at the National Forest Authority (NFA) said that the move seeks to solve the protracted dispute that is pending before the Court of Appeal.
