Mountain Elgon national park stretches through the eight districts of Kapchorwa, Kween, Bukwo, Manafwa, Bududa, Bulambuli, Mbale, and Sironko.

In December 2015, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda directed the ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to reopen and re-demarcate the boundaries of this park, after consultation and discussions with the Mt Elgon districts political leaders.

All political leaders and stakeholders from the eight districts are in agreement that the exercise is long overdue because of the need to protect a critical ecological system which needs to be safeguarded from encroachment and the consequences of climate change.

During the ministry’s recent interaction with stakeholders, many mentioned that there were many boundary maps that had been drawn. Some refer to maps of 1968, 1983 and 1993. Those from Sebei refer to the 1983 maps while those from Bugisu refer to the 1993 maps. However, no stakeholder had ever seen the 1983 and 1993 maps and all rely on hearsay that these do exist.

As it turns out, many maps have been drawn for many purposes including food distribution in the area. These maps are not cadastral and cannot be used for boundary opening, as many stakeholders believe.

The ministry presented the 1968 Mount Elgon national park boundary map and has informed the stakeholders that it is the cadastral map that shall be used as a basis for reopening. This map has coordinates and shall be available at each of the respective eight district land offices, in case citizens want to access it.

Any de-gazzetments that were approved by parliament shall be taken into consideration. The other document that stakeholders were told that existed was a 1993 declaration, which also refers to the 1968 map.

Arising out of information received during the initial sensitization drives, concerns have been raised by the lands ministry for the need to verify each boundary pillar’s Global Positioning System (GPS) location.

This is because during a previous boundary opening exercise in 1993, using private survey services, local communities purportedly contributed monies and colluded with the surveyors to change the location of the boundary pillars from their correct locations based on the GPS coordinates.

In some places, the exercise favored the communities while in others it favored Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). The ministry has requested UWA to provide the boundary coordinates submitted by private surveyors, which will be used to compare with the coordinates of 1968.

As a response, the government surveyors will verify all the boundary pillars to establish what was altered. Those pillars found not to correspond to the coordinates shall be removed and the correct ones placed.

NO EVICTIONS

While carrying out the demarcation task, the government surveyors shall respect the existing court injunctions that provide for non-eviction of communities that may be found to be within the park.

In fact, the exercise to be carried out is for purposes of boundary opening, and not eviction or resettlement. No one will be evicted during the boundary opening. But the lands ministry will document any encroachment, which shall be brought to the attention of the district political leaders and the office of the prime minister.

As a post-demarcation intervention, there may be need to resettle some people to avoid landlessness; so, the relevant government departments will be tasked to handle the next-phase interventions.

The offices of resident district commissioners, in collaboration with the lands ministry, are expected to establish functional complaints-handling desks that will receive and respond to grievances from stakeholders and the frontline villages.

This exercise, which will be highly consultative and participatory, begins in January 2017 and is expected to be completed by end of March 2017.

dennisfo2002@yahoo.com

The author is the spokesperson of the ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.