MPs clash with Minister Butime over UWA’s role in rampant wildfires

Members of Parliament have clashed with the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Col. (Rtd) Tom Butime, over the role of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in the rampant wildfires that have ravaged property and life.

MPs disagreed with Butime when he attempted to exonerate UWA from the fires that have gutted three safari lodges in the recent past, including Park View Safari Lodge, which was burnt down by fires from Queen Elizabeth National Park in August 2021.

The Chairperson of the Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry, Mwine Mpaka, said his committee had carried out an inquiry whose findings show that the fires were started by UWA and not members of the local community as earlier mentioned by Butime.

“We were in Queen Elizabeth National Park two days after the lodge burnt and we met all stakeholders including the security officials. It was clear that UWA was the cause of the fire,” Mpaka said.

Mpaka said reports from the Rubirizi Resident District Commissioner (RDC) and the District Police Commander also fault UWA for setting fires that stray and burn property and sometimes cause death.

“One would think that probably MPs are biased but the RDC of Rubirizi pinned UWA because they are aware that UWA burns between May and July every year,” said Mpaka.

He added, “Even the fire department of the Police gave us a report showing that actually the fire started from the park. So, as a committee, we believe that UWA is responsible for these fires and should take responsibility for their action”.

Bukooli Central MP, Solomon Silwany, also pinned UWA for acting irresponsibly in relation to people who have been left uncompensated.

“There are fires that have been started by UWA and their staff and they have even informed owners of premises that they have started the fires and have mistakenly burnt premises,” Silwany said.

The Deputy Speaker, Anita Among, while chairing the plenary sitting on Wednesday, 09 February 2022 said as statutory provided, UWA has the responsibility to compensate people who loose properties to the bush fires originating from the parks.

“The Uganda Wildlife Act, 2019 talks about compensation. Section 83 says two per cent of the money collected by the authority from services it offers shall be used for compensation. So where does this money go?” asked Among.

Butime requested Parliament to support his ministry’s request for Shs 45.371 billion to install electric fences in areas prone to wildlife human conflicts.

He added that the tourism sector was grossly affected by COVID-19 and has thus been unable to compensate people who lost properties from fires and animals.

“Prior to COVID-19, UWA used to utilise part of the earnings from tourism related activities to fund human wildlife conflict management interventions,” Butime said.

Legislators said the tourism ministry was generally reluctant about the human wild life conflicts which they noted are now on the increase.

In a damning exposé, Hon Mpaka said that the ministry had rejected money for the same electric fence that the minister is now requesting for. “During the recent National Budget Framework Paper, the ministry informed the committee that they did not want money for the electric fence and the reason they gave was that they cannot absorb the money if we gave it to them,” he said.