Promoting Domestic Tourism, Separating Parliament Committee Will Develop Sector- MP Mugole.

Hon. Stephen Mugole, the Member Of Parliament for Kabweri county in Kibuku district, has urged Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to focus more on domestic tourism to safeguard the sector against catastrophes like COVID19.

He made this call during a meeting with MPs and a team from Uganda Wildlife Authority led by the Executive Director.

According to Hon. Stephen, the Authority can for starters, acquire “cable cars” that can help tourists in reaching hard-to-reach areas hence generating quick revenue for the sector.

In his submission, the legislator also called upon his counterparts to join him in advocating for the separation of the Parliamentary Committee on Trade and Tourism such that tourism has its own committee different from that of Trade which according to him, will ease and develop the works of the sector.

Other legislators including; Hon. Richard Muhumuza, the chairman, Prof. Dickens Elijah Mushemeza, Hon. Richard Gafabusa, Hon. Harriet Busingye and Hon. Flavia Kabahenda of Kyegegwa, the district also raised issues of involving the young generation and women in the day-to-day activities of the sector, and also get involved in the ongoing Parish Development Model program plus reforming the aspect of Human-wildlife conflict to the relationship among others.

In this dialogue, the Uganda Wildlife Authority Executive Director, Mr. Sam Mwandha revealed the strategic plan for the Authority to the legislators and called upon them to increase the sector’s budget to enable them to achieve it.

According to this plan, under the eco-system management, they hope to manage emerging diseases that can cause the death of animals, mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. He added that they want to prevent risks like floods and fires in addition to minimizing the negative impacts of development in and outside the protected areas.

The plan also revealed opportunities for wildlife that included the enabling policy and law, political stability and peace, the growth potential of wildlife products, competition and collaboration plus also the wealth of lessons learned within the emerging technologies.

Mr. Mwandha’s strategic plan also included the challenges the Authority faces including; poaching, inadequate funding, public waste, climate change, encroachment, and habitat fragmentation, the demand of de-gazetting areas, and also uncertainty about the future due to the COVID-19 pandemic which is still the latest at the moment.

The Executive Director also briefly broke down the shs130billion budget to the legislators which they hope as the Authority, will help in the smooth transition of the plan.

The latest animal census carried out in 2020, indicated that Uganda currently has a total of 7,975 African elephants, 2,072 giraffes, 17,516 zebras, 10,165 hippopotamuses, 44,163 buffaloes, 17,590 kobs amongst other wildlife species countrywide.

The legislators on the Parliamentary Forum on Conservation and Sustainable Tourism were on an exposure visit organized by African Wildlife Foundation and Uganda Wildlife Authority to Murchison falls National Park to expand their knowledge on tourism infrastructure, anti-poaching measures human-wildlife conflicts mitigation, and other topics concerning wildlife.