Parliament has called for an independent investigation into allegations of killings and disappearances involving Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers in communities surrounding national parks, raising concerns about accountability in wildlife protection operations.
The Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry has recommended that the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) and the Uganda Police Force investigate reported incidents in Nwoya, Buliisa and Kasese districts and submit their findings within six months.
The committee's deputy chairperson, Patrick Aeku, presented the recommendations during a parliamentary sitting on Tuesday, October 13, with Parliament publishing the report on Wednesday.
According to Aeku, communities reported incidents in which UWA rangers allegedly used force against people found or suspected of entering protected areas without authorisation. Some families also reportedly said they had been unable to recover the bodies of relatives who died in park-related incidents.
One case cited by the committee involved the Koyo Clan in Purongo Sub-county, Nwoya District, where a community member alleged that 11 people had died or gone missing in park-related incidents over a period of three years, with their bodies reportedly never recovered.
The committee noted that it had not independently verified the allegations. UWA, meanwhile, attributed deaths inside national parks mainly to confrontations between rangers and armed poachers.
Aeku warned that the persistence of such allegations could undermine relations between conservation authorities and neighbouring communities, whose cooperation is essential to wildlife protection and the reporting of illegal activities.
The proposed inquiry is expected to establish the circumstances surrounding the reported incidents, determine whether any laws were violated and identify any individuals who may be held accountable based on the evidence gathered.
The proposed investigations come amid wider concerns about the challenges faced by communities living alongside protected areas, where residents report crop destruction, injuries and loss of life resulting from encounters with wild animals.
During the same parliamentary proceedings, legislators called for stronger preventive measures to reduce human-wildlife conflict and improve the safety of communities bordering national parks.
The committee recommended expanding electric fencing around Lake Mburo, Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth and Kidepo Valley national parks.
It also proposed scaling up the use of beehive fences, maintaining trenches, constructing additional crocodile-exclusion enclosures and using animal-tracking information to alert communities when dangerous wildlife approaches populated areas.
These interventions are intended to reduce encounters between people and wild animals while protecting livelihoods and supporting conservation efforts.
State Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities Susan Nakawuki told Parliament that the government had installed approximately 5,000 kilometres of fencing, while acknowledging the need for additional resources to expand protective measures.
Nakawuki also highlighted the risks faced by UWA rangers in the course of their duties, saying more than 1,000 had been killed, injured or traumatised in encounters with poachers.
Her remarks underscored the dangers associated with wildlife protection operations, even as legislators called for greater scrutiny of allegations involving the conduct of individual officers.