Kampala — A new report has shown that the land on which the headquarters of the National Forestry Authority (NFA) is built has been given away to an investor, contrary to a presidential directive, Gerald Tenywa writes.

IN August 2007, the NFA board directed the senior management of the forestry authority to give a license to a private company, Virco Holding, for part of the forest land at Nakawa. The move came a month after President Yoweri Museveni issued a directive stopping allocation of land in forest reserves.

This is one of several examples of illicit land allocations in forest reserves, compiled by Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE), a Non-Government Organisation. The report, entitled 'Trouble in the Forests', also cites several incidences where permits which had been issued for planting trees were instead used for other activities such as grazing of animals and cultivation of crops.

In addition, the report states that NFA employees have allocated land to themselves in Lwamunda and Buvuma forest reserves in Mpigi and Wakiso districts respectively.

The report comes after the suspension of NFA executive director Damian Akankwasa last month over sh900m, allegedly stolen by his wife from their bedroom. Akankwasa was forced to step aside to give way to a probe ordered by Museveni into the source of the money.

Akankwasa claimed that the money belonged to his brothers, although information in the charge sheet against his wife shows that part of the money (sh100m) belongs to him.

The NFA boss is allegedly constructing a 100-room hotel on Balikudembe Road in Naguru, a Kampala suburb.

NFA board chairman Baguma Isoke and environment minister Maria Mutagamba were quick to absolve Akankwasa in the sh900m saga, saying the money did not belong to NFA.

Towards the end of 2006, there were changes in NFA management following the resignation of senior managers and the dissolution of the board.

"It is not common at NFA that the chairman of the board of directors signs license agreements since he is not the accounting officer," says the report.

"Whereas the NFA officials signed the contract on August 21 and 22, the license agreement carries a date earlier than the presidential directive and the board decision was taken and minuted in August 2008," the report adds.

The allocation also contravened section 42 of the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act 2003 and Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets regulations, as the process was neither open nor competitive, ACODE further noted.

The NGO noted that the price at which the land was leased, sh10m per year for more than one hectare, was low, considering the commercial value of land in that area. "It is important to compare that value with the current rate of hiring the NFA compound for a function, which stands at sh1m for a

single day."

The report also questions the issuing of a land title for another plot at the NFA headquarters to Dick Olet, a former commissioner of the forestry department in the environment ministry.

Surprisingly, Isoke has authorised the land title for the controversial deal, yet when he was state minister for lands between 2000 and 2003, he stopped the issuing of land titles in protected areas.

"For him to endorse the issuance of a land title in a central forest reserve to date is a clear and deliberate case of double standards," says the report.

It points out several other incidences where NFA is either not managing the permits it granted or deliberately turning a blind eye to illicit activities which are going on in the forests.

In Kazooba Central Forest Reserve in Sembabule District, ACODE found out that NFA allocated 1,000 hectares of land to a man only identified as Boaz for tree farming. Instead, Boaz fenced off the land and turned it into a grazing ground for his animals. He reportedly also fenced off a public water dam, causing conflict with the community over access to the dam.

Private tree planters are using Kamaki Central Forest Reserve for cultivating crops, a violation of the terms of the NFA license.

Asked for a reaction, Isoke said the Inspector General of Government, Raphael Baku, and the criminal investigations department were investigating the allegations. "There are too many allegations of illegal activities taking place within the forest reserves," he told Sunday Vision.

"I understand the IGG and CID are investigating. And I don't think it would be right to comment in the press on these reports."