Kole, April 26, 2023: The Environmental Protection Police Unit (EPPU) acting on orders of the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) has slashed down a maize plantation belonging to Kole district LC5 chairman Andrew Awany.
Kole Resident District Commissioner Caroline Angolere who doesn’t see eye to eye with the chairman confirmed the development Wednesday evening.
Angolere says NEMA was acting on orders of President Museveni who doesn’t want citizens to encroach on the wetlands and Awany’s maize plantations happen to be on a wetland.
It was among 10 gardens destroyed by NEMA including one belonging to a man only identified as Professor Ommo and a medic attached to Aboke Health Center IV.
Angolere says when she was posted to Kole, the district had 9% of wetland cover but 33% has so far been encroached on.
By press time, Awany says this is a political witch hunt and that his farm is not in a wetland.
This is a developing story.