NFA Red Flags KCCA Plan for Buyala Landfill

The National Forestry Authority (NFA) has rejected plans by Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA to use part of the Buto-Buvuma central forest land in Buyala as a landfill.

Stuart Maniraguha, the NFA Acting Executive Director, said that the planned landfill site was illegally obtained by KCCA because it is part of a forest reserve. 

He added that the 230-acre piece of land is among the many fraudulent land titles that have been created in forest reserves. 

“There is no way the government can buy its land, and if there is anyone claiming to own that land, that should not be accepted. We are fully aware most of the land titles in this forest were illegally created, and we asked the Ministry of Lands to cancel them because all the demarcations and boundaries are very clear,” he said.

According to Maniraguha, NFA has had several engagements with KCCA to avoid the possibility of illegally acquiring forest reserve land through fake land titles by unscrupulous individuals.

Though the earlier meetings yielded fruits, KCCA went mute in the last two weeks after NFA wrote to them upon learning about the latest acquisition of the land in Buyala, where clearing works of the site are ongoing.

“The efforts to conserve this forest are still on, and we are going to ensure that its integrity is not compromised at any moment,” he noted, adding that NFA is to prosecute any licensed farmers found to have been involved in such discussions with KCCA, and the environmental police have already been mobilized,” Maniraguha stated.

Buto-Buvuma Central Forest Reserve is a main catchment area for River Mayanja, a key contributor to Lake Victoria, and its destruction has ripple effects on the entire Victoria basin biodiversity ecosystem.

Last year, the NFA revealed that there are 703 illegal land titles in different forest reserves. The discoveries were made during the process to ascertain the extent of forest degradation.