Repentance! or same old canny games???

I should be smiling or at least trying to smile but for some reason, i am not. You will wonder why? Well, let me tell you...... in Uganda's leading Daily, The New vision a screaming headline appeared today that "Museveni stops sale of forests". This is a very good reason enough for anyone concerned about the environment to smile but i am not!

Uganda's environment just like the world over is being degraded at an alarming rate and if we do not jump in to act, in just a few years we will be headed for disaster. Much of what used to be forests have since turned into gardens of corn and sugar cane. Hills that used to have trees on them are now grazing lands, swamps around the city and other towns that used to be catchment areas have since turned into big residential estates and we are still counting!

Recently, i've been trying to remember how my home area used to look like in the 80's and 90's and trying to contrast it with what it looks like and i was struck with a hush realty that the green lands are no more. When you drive south west-wards, all you can see are bare hills covered with stones, empty valleys and drying swamps. People have turned to papyrus swamps as the source of 'firewood', and the result! swamps are nearing extinction.Why are we doing this to ourselves and most of all why are we punishing the future generation?

Back to the  headline, Ugandans and the world will remember what happened last year during the protests to save Mabira forest. President Museveni had directed that part of  the forest be given to an 'investor' to plant sugar cane in order to increase sugar production in Uganda. Well, you may not know what happened.......... in protest of the directive, one Member of parliament (since then, Christened "Mama Mabira") mobilised and took to the streets in a "save mabira crusade" and what followed was total bloodshed. The local people poured their anger on the Indian community here in uganda in what they called Indian insensitivity in protecting Uganda's environment. By the time the police came in, some Indian had lost his life and many others sustained serious injuries and their properties worth millions of shillings was vandalised and rooted.

I am neither trying to bring back those bitter memories nor am i trying to condone the way the protesters behaved, but i am trying to question whether the President can be taken by his word.

He is quoted to have said that "those leasing forests are criminals and should be punished". I am left to wonder! if everybody had powers to punish, wouldn't the President be somewhere in a small prison cell? As i write this, i don't even know whether the cabinet has completely refrained from the idea of giving away part of the only remaining tropical natural forest here.

However, putting my pessimism aside, i'll just cover my face and clap for the President(for seeing the light) in the hope that he'll keep his word and punish whoever tries to degrade our already degraded environment and most especially whoever tries to give away Mabira forest given its importance to Uganda's environment and the economy as a whole.

I also wish the president could refrain from stopping evictions from forest reserves by the National Forestry Authority. This would limit the number of encroachers who are the leading destroyers of our forests.

If the president is really concerned about the state of our environment, let him lead by example because as long as he continues to issue orders for forest give-aways and at the same time act a saviour of our forests, then nobody will take him by his word. His directives should include all the National forests and not just a section of them in Mityana at the expense of mabira.

To my fellow Ugandans and those who love the environment, let us wake up to the reality. Let's plant trees on those bare hills, let's stop building in swamps just because we want to be in the city and  let's adopt better farming techniques.

Lastly, i want to appreciate the efforts of the First Lady. I read in the papers the other day that she had started a campaign to plant trees in our constituency. This shows that she has seen the problem. You are slowly but surely earning my support because of your concern for real issues affecting the people at the grassroots. Big up, Hon. Janet.