When I move around Uganda, especially in urban areas, I see a lot of negligence, wastage, and carelessness. At a time when poverty, unemployment, and crime are at high rates, one would expect a prudent use of public resources. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. There is a pervasive neglect and wastefulness in national planning and the execution of public projects.
By Peter Wamboga-Mugirya (Kampala, Uganda)
Here, I highlight two pressing examples:
- Ferocious Eviction of Wetland ‘Encroachers’ by NEMA:
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) is conducting brutal evictions of those living in wetlands. While I am a known environmentalist, my concern is the government’s retrospective approach to current and future challenges. For over 40 years, thousands of citizens have settled in wetlands while the public administration expanded with Local Councils (LCs) at various levels, costing the nation dearly. Numerous state bureaucrats and technocrats are aware of the environmental harm caused by these settlements but have turned a blind eye. This includes over 300-400 Members of Parliament, Parish and Subcounty Chiefs, and District Environment Officers across Uganda’s 140 districts. These officials, alongside the Ministry of Water and Environment and several other ministries, have failed to protect fragile environments. Instead, they focus on forceful evictions without considering the long-term impact or providing alternatives for those displaced. - Emergence of Paver-Throwing and Taekwondo-Style Kicking Street Thugs:
This issue exacerbates the already high levels of unemployment and crime. The government’s failure to address the root causes of these problems leads to further social instability and public distrust.
Institutional and Structural Failures:
Despite a robust constitutional, policy, legal, and regulatory framework, Ugandan institutions have failed to protect fragile environments adequately. This includes the National Forestry Authority (NFA), Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), and other agencies with armed forces. These institutions have not done enough to protect the environment, with Lake Victoria being a prime example of negligence and pollution.
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Contributing Factors:
Several factors contribute to the environmental degradation and social issues in Uganda:
- Urban Population and Unemployment Explosion: Many people migrate to urban areas due to the privatization of state enterprises in the 1990s and retrenchment of public workers.
- Climate Change and COVID-19 Pandemic: These crises have forced desperate people onto wetlands for cheap land to build shacks and survive.
Call for Reflection and Action:
There is an urgent need for a multistakeholder reflection on Uganda’s current situation and future challenges. The government must abandon quick fixes like forceful evictions and instead address the underlying issues. The brutal evictions carried out by ghetto boys and street urchins using bulldozers to demolish homes only inflict double punishment on the ‘encroachers.’
This is Part 1 of my take on the state of Uganda’s environmental protection vis-à-vis institutional, policy, regulatory, and legal failures.
