The National Unity Platform boss Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has blasted NEMA officials and security agencies for indiscriminately evicting locals from wetlands.
His statements come after police, Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), stormed Lubigi - Busega wetland in Rubaga Division, Kampala, displacing traders and occupants.
The officers razed down makeshift structures using hoes and machetes after reportedly ordering locals to evacuate in one hour.
According to NEMA, the crackdown is meant to save wetlands and revive the ecosystem across the country.
Bobi wine however says the operation is only targeting the poor and low-income earners and ignoring the rich who also encroach on wetlands.
“It is regrettable that the regime continues to selectively apply the law against the poor and ‘people without connections’ while sparing and protecting the rich, regime officials, and their agents in private business who have encroached on tracts of wetlands and reclaimed lakes across the country with untold impunity,” said Kyagulanyi.
NEMA on the other hand says restoring Lubigi wetlands will proceed until it can perform its ecological functions.
“Lubigi wetland is being restored so that it can perform its ecological functions for instance water filtration and storage for safe consumption of the majority. The exercise at Lubigi continues with restoration of the core sections of the wetland through blocking channels, removal of alien vegetation, and pulling down of illegal structures,” said the authority.
