It is not surprising that an investigation has been ordered into allegations of festering corruption at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) by the tourism ministry. There have been many warnings about the way things were running at UWA.

The troubles at the authority may have a history in the lack of attention paid to conservation throughout the decades of civil war which wracked Uganda. But one of the first hints that mischievous tendencies were getting the better of the place was when it emerged about 10 years ago that a wealthy family was conspiring with senior staff to sell off the Queen Elizabeth National Park.

They wanted to turn the place into a fancy golf course! Luckily for Uganda, the plucky Presidential Adviser on Media, John Nagenda, who was in place as board chairman got wind of the impending outrage and put his foot down.

In the intervening years, it has often been reported that large tracts of parkland were sold off in the dead of the night and the money pocketed by dirty officials. Subsequent human activity on rangeland that was initially preserved for wild game conservation imperiled Uganda’s wildlife — and by implication, vast tourism potential.

This threat was compounded by the adoption of private operators with suspect credentials to run lucrative concessions mainly in south western Uganda. What followed was the same tragedy which befell the National Forestry Authority when its managers chose to profit from the country’s forests instead of focusing on ensuring sustainable resource management. Some of the communities around the parks also soon complained about how they were not benefiting from their proximity to national parks as a trade-off for their abandoning of poaching.

The complaints were merely a symptom of the larger problem. Unlike Kenya and Tanzania where national parks and game reserves are treated as a delicate national treasure and managed with the requisite seriousness, in Uganda, UWA’s leadership has been questionable. This may explain why despite hosting substantial rare species of flora and fauna our tourism industry is in stagnation.

Hopefully, the ministry will use this investigation to instigate sector wide reforms. We encourage the ministry to borrow from our neighbours and to go as far as southern Africa where the safari business is a boon to economies across the region to see how Uganda can learn how to make the best of our wildlife.

Source: Monitor Publications, Truth Everyday – monitor.co.ug

followup to part 1: Uganda wildlife Authority bosses suspended