Police halt sand mining in Masaka wetland
MASAKA– Environment police in Masaka have stopped activities of sand mining, following the destruction of 20 acres of a wetland at Kasanje-Nakigga village in Bukakata Sub-county, Masaka district.
Kasanje-Nakigga wetland stretches from Bukulula Subcounty in Kalungu district up to Kasanje-Nakigga village. The wetland was being destroyed by SAFA Agricultural Investment Limited.
Masaka regional environment police commander, ASP January Kusiimwa said they intervened after receiving complaints from Bukakata Sub-county chairman, Aloysius Jjuuko who reported the illegal encroachment on the wetland on plot 448, block 300 in Ssunga parish.
Kusiimwa also said preliminary investigations found out that individuals including Masaka district local council speaker, Francis Kimuli, Emmanuel Kizza a resident of Mukoko village, and Dennis Muganga a resident of Ssunga village, illegally procured a land title for the same wetland and then sold it to Joseph Kintu, a local businessman.
He said Kimuli connived with Bukakata Sub-county land committee as well as the district land members to illegally process the land title in question.
However, police have suspended all the activities by SAFA Agricultural Investment Limited and impounded excavators and trucks that were found carrying sand from the wetland.
Kusiimwa said they have launched investigations to find out how Masaka district local council speaker, Kimuli and other businessmen acquired a land title in the wetland.
He said the land Act section 44 cap 227 does not allow any person to procure a certificate of title in a wetland.
”As police we want the district council speaker, Francis Kimuli, and others to report to police and tell us how they obtained a land title in a wetland,” Kusimwa said.
Bukakata Sub-county chairman, Jjuuko said many people with documents claimed to have been obtained from the district headquarters, have been encroaching in different wetlands in the sub-county.
”Many wetlands in our area have been depleted. Vegetation like papyrus which is important in filtering pollutants and regulating water flows has been destroyed,” he said.
He has appealed to the National Environmental Management Authority [NEMA] to intervene and save wetlands in the area.
Masaka district local council speaker, Francis Kimuli said they applied for 11.4 hectares of public land at Kasanje-Nakigga village and obtained a land title but not in a wetland.
He said there is only one acre, which is in the wetland, and not 20 acres as claimed by authorities. ”We welcome the police investigation and the truth will be found and we are not violating the NEMA Act,” he said.
https://thecooperator.news/over-900-hectares-of-wetlands-in-kwania-under-attack/
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