Deputy Speaker Tayebwa, UWA, NFA reach an agreement to rescue Mitooma people from raging Elephants & land conflict

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament who also doubles as Ruhinda North MP in Mitooma District, Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa, yesterday held a meeting with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and the National Forestry Authority (NFA), along with the Mitooma district Speaker Mr. Tumwekwatse Moses and local stakeholders to deliberate on the ongoing opening of the boundaries of Imaramagambo Forest in the sub-counties of Kigyende and Kiyanga in Mitooma District.

The issue had caused an uproar in those communities, as people’s properties and crops have been destroyed during the exercise.

Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa said he was glad to have resolved the issue with National Forestry Authority (NFA) clearly showing that their boundaries don’t extend to people’s land.

He confirmed that the overzealous surveyors who had gone beyond the border demarcations of Queen Elizabeth National Park have been stopped.

He thanked the management of NFA for this swift action.

Meanwhile as the meeting was going on, the unwanted visitors stormed Kiyanga

While the locals were ranting about Emily’s uncompensated gardens (in Kiyanga) yesterday, today, uninvited gigantic monsters (Elephants) paid homage to the villages of Nyanga and Kongi in Kiyanga and enjoyed a feast in the gardens.

The visitors were heard singing a jovial Thanksgiving chorus praising the gardens for doing great work.

The onlookers were shocked by the singing and dancing of these uninvited visitors who were vehemently feasting on the kawandas and other crops in the garden.

As the celebration song of (tinkola kwonka ndalya) was going on amid the dancing and ululations of these visitors, UWA officials were alerted who came around midday and calmly begged the elephants to leave the gardens and head back to the bush.

The locals have called on UWA to compensate victims of the Animal attack and also erect the fence separating the park area from the people.