BUSHENYI,UGANDA — The Office of the President in Bushenyi District has handed over a suspected wetland encroacher to police for further management.
The action was taken on Tuesday, 30th September 2026, on the instructions of the Senior Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr. Emmy Ngabirano, in collaboration with the Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality Environment Office.
According to Assistant RDC Hillary Igambirine, the team first visited the locus in quo in Mutojo Cell, Rwamabengwa Ward, Central Division, on 8th September 2026, where it was established that a family had excavated a drainage channel in a wetland and planted eucalyptus trees, an exotic species prohibited in wetlands.
The family was issued a verbal caution and given seven days to backfill the channel and uproot the eucalyptus trees.
After the grace period elapsed, the Office of the President contacted the family, which claimed to have complied.
However, during a follow-up inspection today to ascertain compliance, officials found the claim to be false. The encroacher had not restored the wetland and had instead erected a new barbed-wire fence inside the protected area.
“The entourage had no option but to hand over the suspected wetland encroacher to police for further management,” Igambirine said.
He disclosed that Bushenyi Police Station has so far received two other cases of environmental degradation registered through the Office of the President, with files being completed ahead of arraignment in court.
Igambirine said Bushenyi District is densely populated and residents, including elites, have resorted to wetland encroachment in violation of environmental laws and presidential directives on wetland conservation.
He warned that environmental degradation is a major reason Greater Bushenyi experienced an unusually long dry spell extending to September for the first time in history.
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