Edwin Nshuti
16 August 2008
Nairobi — A protracted dispute between the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), tour operators and lodge owners in the Kisoro area has been taken to the high court.
The rift -- over distribution of tracking permits for the Nkuringo family of gorillas -- arises out of a 2004 agreement between UWA and the Nkuringo Conservation and Development Foundation (NCDF) that granted the latter the first right of refusal to six of the eight gorilla permits for the Nkuringo family of gorillas.
NCDF, a community based organisation run by residents of the area surrounding the western side of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, operates a high-end eco-lodge in partnership with a private tour operator, the Uganda Safari Company.
Eddie Kwizera, whose firm -- Kisoro Development Company -- owns a lodge in the neighbourhood of the park, has filed a suit against UWA and NCDF in the High Court at Kampala under civil suit No.135 of 2008 contesting the legality of the agreement between them and asking the court to declare it null and void.
In the plaint, Mr Kwizera argues that UWA was under legal obligation to seek, by way of advertisement in the local media, expressions of interest from the public before entering into a contract with a private company like NCDF and that is having failed to do so renders the contract a nullity.
Mr Kwizera further argues that his lodge entered into contracts with other tour companies in East Africa to link tourists to his lodge but the agreement between UWA and NCDF has made it impossible for those contracts to be actualised.
UWA, however, maintains in its Written Statement of Defence that the legally binding pact it entered into was done lawfully and in execution of the Uganda Wildlife Act, which authorises UWA to manage all wildlife and all the protected areas in the country and also gives it a full mandate to enter into any collaborative arrangements with the community or with individuals in order to achieve its objectives.
The agreement was signed in 1999 following the shifting of the Nkuringo family from the Bwindi forest to the land belonging to the residents of Nteko and Rubuguri parishes.
The Uganda Safari Company entered into the loop in 2005 when it won the tender advertised by NCDF in the local newspapers, for a private partner to build and manage the community lodge on its behalf and to market the gorilla permits granted to it by UWA, which were to be pegged to staying in the lodge.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between NCDF and Uganda Safari Company, the $1.2 million lodge, to be marketed as Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge, belongs to the community and Uganda Safari Company will manage it for a period of 15 years.
Opening of the Ishongi group of gorillas for tourism in January 2009 is expected to ease the competition for permits for both the tour operators and lodges as it will increase the number of permits available for the Kisoro area from two to 10.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The East African. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
