A herd of Elephants across the road in to Got Apwoyo sub county in Nwoya district where locals live.Photo by Arnest Tumwesige
By Arnest Tumwesige
Nwoya: For years, 62 year old Johny Oringa, a peasant farmer based in Nwoya district- Northern Uganda, whose village borders Murchison Falls National Game Park had already mastered the art of surviving as a farmer operating along elephant corridor. However, this year, the elephants had their own surprises.
“I was very surprised that this time they (elephants) came in April. In the past, they would come around June or July. This was (gave) ample time for us to harvest (crops),” Oringa wondered why the marauding elephants came early and ate away his two acres of soya beans.
The loss left the resident of Gony-Cogo village dejected and he remains undecided whether to continue farming or throw in the towel.
Whereas he anticipated a quick response from Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA)- Uganda’s government agency in charge of wild life conservation, all he has got so far is silence after reporting the matter to relevant authorities.
In the same boat is 40 year old Jimmy Okot, a resident of the same village who lost seven acres of maize to elephants in October of 2023.
Okot claims he followed all the required procedures to file a formal complaint for compensation by UWA but hit a dead end.
“I opened a case with police and went to the sub-county agricultural extension officer who came and valued the destroyed garden at 14 million shillings,” a visibly frustrated Okot narrated.
Okot said quite a number of local residents victimized by elephants in the area never really get compensation from UWA.
Plea to restore outpost in Nwoya
With such challenges including cases of death reported in Celpeke village in Lii sub-county, the residents who depend on farming as their sole source of livelihood want UWA to restore its outpost in the community.
Scores of residents told this publication of the swift response they got from UWA while the agency still had an outpost in the area. The outpost ceased operation in 2018.
These residents whose village is in Lii sub-county are disadvantaged compared to their colleagues who reside in Anaka and Purongo sub-counties because their sub-county is the only one un-fenced from the park, providing a corridor for elephants to enter the community.
“We are asking government to speed up fencing the open borderline. Our community is consistently prone to elephant attacks,” Ojok pleaded.
Be patient, the process is long
Wilson Kagoro, the warden community conservation at Murchison Falls National Park acknowledged the havocs elephants have created in the neighborhood. Despite the fact that compensation of locals is taken care of by the law under section 83 of the wild life act, the officer acknowledged setbacks in its implementation.
The officer said the team is supposed to report to UWA verification board for approval of payment to each victim.
Despite the delays, seven individuals within the district have already been compensated after over two years of waiting according to Kagoro.
He acknowledged that the process is long but called for patience as procedures need to be followed to the dot.
“Once we have verified, they (locals) should ensure that police and agricultural officers reach on the ground,” he advised.
During a recent engagement in Agago district, Col. (Rtd) Tom Butiime, the Minister of Tourism, Trade and Industry said there will be an accelerated plan to ensure that affected persons are compensated.
The Minister however noted that majority of affected individuals are uninformed on how to fill-in the forms and asked the rangers to support complainants in such cases.
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