By Dennis Otim

15^th Aug 2011:

Dejavu: Are the 2007 Mabira protests about to resume

Kitgum district woman Member of Parliament Hon. Beatrice Anywar has vowed to roll up her sleeves for the second time and fight President Yoweri Museveni’s latest proposal to give away parts of Mabira forest to Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited [SCOUL], a sugar producing company based in Lugazi along the Kampala-Jinja highway.

The President made the audacious announcement to give away parts of the ecologically important Mabira forest last week as he addressed over 1,000 district leaders and agriculturalists from across the country at State House Entebbe about the high prices of sugar in the country at the moment.

“…Lugazi Sugar Works should expand by getting part of the Mabira forest reserve which they had asked for. They were stopped by riots which were led by Beatrice Anywar and since they were stopped from growing, the country is short of sugar and it is going to import sugar”, the President said.

In 2007, the government tried to allocate parts of Mabira forest to SCOUL but was forced to temporarily shelve the idea after the country’s conservationists led by MP Beatrice Anywar and Hon. John Ken Lukyamuzi put up a spirited fight in defence of Mabira.

The 2007 confrontations with the government, which earned Hon. Beatrice Anywar the slightly affectionate title of ‘Mama Mabira’, degenerated into violent street riots that claimed the lives of three people including a Ugandan of Indian origin.

In her response to President Museveni’s latest push to give parts of Mabira forest to SCOUL, Hon. Beatrice ‘Mama Mabira’ Anywar said, “…I have already mentioned today that we are having a meeting tomorrow to reconvene the Save Mabira Committee to consider the way forward.  I can assure you we are going to take Museveni head on to ensure that Mabira is saved”.

In a separate telephone interview with Uganda Correspondent, a senior FDC official who requested anonymity added a fresh twist to the brewing battle for Mabira by suggesting that President Museveni’s ruling NRM party received unspecified amounts of money from a sugar producing company to fund its 2006 election campaigns for which it now feels indebted.

“…It is an open secret that the NRM got money from some sugar growing companies to fund its 2006 campaigns.  They are now trying to fulfil their part of the deal by sacrificing a very important resource that attracts rain for our farmers in all the districts surrounding Mabira.  That is selfishness of the highest order and Ugandans must now rise up and fight tooth and nail for their future and the future of their children”, the angry sound FDC man said.

As things stand, if none of the parties [government and conservationists] to the brewing conflict back down, then the stage may be set for a fresh round of protests that might turn into bloody riots.  Only time will tell.  END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.