The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has opposed IGG’s recommendations on gorilla permits in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Raphael Baku, the Inspector General of Government (IGG), in an April 28 report, wants the agreement between UWA and the Nkuringo Conservation and Development Foundation cancelled, and also wants the one between Nkuringo and the Uganda Safari Company revoked. The IGG further recommended that the investments, including a five-star lodge in Nkuringo, be taken over by Rubuguri sub-county where Nteko and Rubuguri parishes are located. It should be noted that the investments were a result of the two agreements.
During the press conference at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala last Friday, Mark Kamanzi, UWA’s chief counsel, said IGG’s recommendations were not enforceable since the gorillas in Nkuringo were partly living on private land.
Mark Kamanzi also added that the property, which the IGG had recommended to the Rubuguri sub-county authorities to take over, is private. “The report has many inaccuracies and it is not helping the sector,” he said.
After the habituation of gorillas in Nkuringo in 1997, UWA realized that the gorillas spent more time on a strip of private land than Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, according to a May 21 statement. The gorillas were conflicting with the agricultural-based communities since they feed on vegetation.
Consequently, UWA gave the communities, organized under Nkuringo Conservation Development Foundation, six permits to track gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. UWA agreed to this request after extensive consultations. With the help of international NGOs, the community secured funding for constructing the eco-lodge, the statement added.
