Joshua Nahamya
Mbarara
In a remarkable effort to protect and restore the life-sustaining River Rwizi, the sole source of water for Mbarara city and neighboring districts, Abahumuza Development Group, a non-profit organization, in collaboration with other development partners and corporate companies in Mbarara has organized the save River Rwizi marathon 2024.
According to Seith Murari, chairman of Abahumuza Development Group, the marathon slated 28th July 2024 at Booma grounds will be the third of its kind since its inception in 2022.
“This will be our 3rd marathon and this has improved community perception and behaviour towards environmental conservation. We have planted trees in Rwanyampazi, Kihumuro, Bishop Stuart University and do activities that conserve water in the soil, and restored some swamps like Rwemigina wetland. We appeal to whoever has land where we can plant trees to contact us” Murari explained
He said that after such interventions, the Abahumuza group witnessed that River Rwizi water levels in the dry season repelled from 2 cubic meters to slightly 2.742 cubic meters thus challenging the public to sustain the tree planting campaigns.
“Our observation is that in the year 2023 River Rwizi water level has increased to 2.742 cubic metres during the dry season that never happened before so if all of us continue doing what we are doing, this river can be restored,” Murari said
This time around the marathon will be exercised under the theme “Women are stewards in sustainable utilization of water and environment resources empowering the girl child in conservation” thus challenging women and girls to come in big numbers to join the marathon, he says.
Murari said that protecting River Rwizi is not a one-person activity thus appealing to the people of Mbarara, local leaders, and other humanitarians to be part of the campaign to save River Rwizi.
Covering drainage patterns to restore Rucece wetland in Rucece cell Nyakayojo ward. Joshua Nahamya
“We want to call upon individuals, corporate companies and organisations, people in the private sector, politicians, ministries and other environmental entities to partner with us in the campaign to save River Rwizi because as Abahumuza group, we cannot restore the degraded River Rwizi alone we need an affirmative action towards this campaign.” He explained
Murari mentioned illegal economic activities like uncontrolled sand mining, bricklaying, constructions on its buffer zone, and disposal of waste in the river plus other agricultural activities affecting River Rwizi.
Mirro Suleiman, Project Manager Abahumuza Development Group, said that the marathon is meant to create awareness for the people who are infringing River Rwizi with different activities.
“We run to show the people in the region the importance of River Rwizi and also to mobilise funds to do activities like tree planting, scaling down the project of underground waste bunkers to collect about 450 tons of waste per year to minimise plastic waste disposal which end in River Rwizi whenever it rains” Suleiman explained
He reported that several people have encroached on River Rwizi and carried out activities that have destroyed banks exposing it to silting and reduction of water levels.
Suleiman added that the officials and entities entitled to the protection of the environment and water bodies have not played the role of protecting River Rwizi from encroachment.
“They just sit in offices, eat bribes, get paid their salaries and go home when the only river in Mbarara is facing extinction.” He said
Fred Bagonza, regional National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) officer of south western region said the authority has less staff compared to the workload challenging the government to increase the staff members to be able to get rid of people interfering with the environment.
Cutting of eucalyptus trees to restore Rucece wetland in Rucece cell Nyakayojo ward. Joshua Nahamya
“We are working as a team but we are not many in number and my office manages south western region which totals to about 30 districts so you can see how big the space we cover compared to the number of staff we have” Bagonza noted
He added that technocrats in local governments have failed to deal with people who construct illegal structures near the banks of River Rwizi
“All the districts have environmental officers, some call themselves natural resource officers that we are supposed to work together with. They are even on the planning committee and construction committees of the districts and the city but you will find illegal structures coming up near the banks of River Rwizi why because people usually construct at the river catchment area during the night and in most cases you find that they don’t have plans” Bagonza explained
He said that for any person to put a structure near River Rwizi, at least it should be 200 meters away from the water body.
“The government does not stop people from sand mining but as NEMA there is a certificate that we issue to sand miners but they have to mine sand 120 metres away from the river and that activity must be regulated,” Bagonza said
According to Bagonza, NEMA has recently apprehended about 7 people interfering with the River Rwizi and also about 40 cases in courts of law in the southwestern region over illegal activities affecting the environment.
“Last week alone in Sheema district, we arrested 7 people and we took them to court and this year we have over 40 in courts of law and those that are already convicted there are about 15 people for encroaching the wetlands.” He said
SP Thomas Kamusiime, Rwizi Regional Community Liaison Officer charged the organizers to come up with friendly activities that can be supported to live with the river without interfering with it.
“When something is in scarcity, the results are always crazy so without saving River Rwizi which all of us entirely depend on then there is no life. But it should not only be prosecutions yes as police we ensure that people get arrested and be taken to court but there must be permanent friendly solutions for the people who entirely depend on River Rwizi for their livelihood” Kamusiime explained
He challenged the Ministry of Water to extend the campaign of protecting River Rwizi to other 12 districts in the catchment area of River Rwizi especially Buhweju, Sheema where it originates from.
“In fact, we request ministry officials to launch similar campaigns in all districts where this river starts and passes so that everyone gets on board to protect our only source of water in the region,” Kamusiime said
Currently, Abahumuza Development Group is partnering with Victoria Water Management Zone, Ministry of Water and Environment, Lato Milk, and Nile Breweries, Mbarara City Council, NEMA to protect River Rwizi, the only source of water in Mbarara and its neighboring districts.
In another development, Mbarara City has embarked on a campaign to restore over 4000 hectares of destroyed Rucece wetland.
The wetland found along the Mbarara-Kabale road covers the Rucece cell in Rwakishakizi, Misyamo, Kibaya, Katukuru, and Nyakayojo ward.
David Sancho, the City Natural Resource Officer said that the city has lost over 4,000 hectares of wetland to encroachers who have destroyed them by backfilling them with soil, planting eucalyptus trees, constructing buildings, and digging trenches that drain water from the wetlands.
“Rucece wetland measures to about 9000 hectares but recently we are battling to recover 4000 hectares encroached on by locals meaning that about 45-50% of the wetland is encroached on,” He said
According to Sancho, the restoration campaign aligns with the Presidential directive to evict all wetland encroachers in Uganda.
The affected Rucece wetland covers over 1,500 hectares of three wards in Mbarara City South Division encroached on by people who claim to have land titles and are threatening to sue the government.
“There are other wetlands in Mbarara city of course which people have encroached on but we decided to start with Rucece wetland because it is among the biggest wetlands which filter water going to River Rwizi. Later we shall go to other wetlands to ensure that all wetlands in the city are protected and people who grow their crops like sweet potatoes, sugar cane, eucalyptus trees should stop it.” He explained
Sancho decried the lack of adequate funds to work on the restorations and provide alternative livelihood sources to the encroachers.
“The campaign of restoring wetlands requires a lot of money because we constitute village wetland protection committees that are tasked with monitoring and assisting in enforcement. We also deploy workers who help us to cover trenches and cut eucalyptus trees, we do the sensitization and the supervisory role so how do we implement all these activities on our meager budget? If we are to do restore the environment, we require more than 100 mln which the government cannot offer,” He emphasized
“Another issue that has hindered full restoration of wetland resources is lack of funds to provide alternative sources of livelihood. As Mbarara city natural resources department we do not have that money to provide alternative sources of livelihood thus challenging the central government to see that those who are basically using the wetlands are able to get the other alternative sources of livelihood.” Sancho explained
The Mbarara City South Division Environment officer Edgar Nabaasa said that they did early sensitization and issued eviction notices to people who refused to comply.
He added that they agreed with the encroachers to harvest their crops and willingly cut down the trees planted.
“We are removing what is not supposed to be in the wetland and we have not ambushed them. We engaged these people in October 2023 and sensitised them about the importance of wetlands. We even gave them a notice of 3 months to remove all that they planted in the wetland even before coming we also gave them one week of notice requesting them to remove their crops but they thought we were joking,” Nabaasa explained
He said that Mbarara city cannot only be a city with mansions and factories when it doesn’t have a water source and wetlands.
“Many people think that a city is made up of buildings, no let’s have a city with rainfall, trees, good air to breathe and protect River Rwizi, the only source of water in Mbarara and across.” Nabaasa said
Robert Kanusu the Deputy Resident City Commissioner of Mbarara City North Division said that the government will continue to evict encroachers and guide people on the importance of wetlands.
Rucece wetland crosses to almost 4 wards which include; Rwakishakizi, Nyarubungo, Katojo, and part of Rukindo ward, and villages are; Kashojwa, Rwakwezi, Bugashe, Macuro II, Macuro, Katukuru, and Kitagata.
Other wetlands in Mbarara city are; Rucece, Koranorya, and Nyakisharara which cover about 5,000 hectares.
