The Opposition Forum for Democratic Change(FDC) party is concerned with the alleged ongoing selective evictions in Lubigi Wetland by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
According to the party vice chairperson, Robert Centenary, some infrastructure owned by the rich remains untouched, while small houses belonging to the poor are mercilessly demolished, raising the question of who approves such orders.
“Factories and rice farms that belong to the rich sit undisturbed in the same wetlands where ordinary citizens are being chased away. At one time, NEMA’s Executive Director admitted that some commercial structures were exempted from demolition because they received government approvals. So who issues these approvals?” Centenary asked.
While addressing journalists on Monday, June 1st, 2026, at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi, Centenary said that the poor are being evicted while the rich are protected.
“NEMA should demarcate all protected wetlands with clear boundaries. Those boundaries must be publicly accessible and mapped at the local government level so that any person applying for a building permit, buying land, or seeking a business licence can verify the status of that land in advance,” he added.
According to Centenary, the law requires that persons who have occupied land for more than 12 years be compensated upon eviction. However, NEMA has ruled out compensation for evictees, categorizing them all as encroachers.
“We direct NEMA to pursue enforcement equally against all encroachers, commercial, industrial, and residential, without distinction based on wealth or political connection,” he noted.
The Lubigi Wetland eviction, which officially resumed on May 28th, serves as a continuation of NEMA’s broader, ongoing campaign to dismolsh illegal permanent and semi-permanent structures to fully restore Uganda’s heavily degraded wetland systems.
However, NEMA has since ruled out any financial compensation or resettlement packages because it would, in the long run, encourage more illegal settlements in other protected wetlands.
