NEMA demolishes over 100 homes in Busabala

Added: 2026-06-05

[00:00:09]Confrontations.

[00:00:46]Tears.

[00:00:56]Allegations.

[00:01:27]Anger and desperation filled Busega as residents rushed to save their belongings before excavators moved in.

[00:01:51]The National Environmental Management Authority NEMA says it demolished over 100 households in Bugolobi in its wetland restoration drive along the Kaliddubi wetland in Bugolobi.

[00:02:02]>> Talk about the the households uh in Bugolobi uh we we restored an area about 10.3 hectares.

[00:02:14]Uh it affected about 80 households.

[00:02:17]About 80 households. And today uh we are doing this year and we expect to affect about 30 the homesteads.

[00:02:26]>> Some watched helplessly as excavators tore down their homes. Some residents claim that developments along the shores of Lake Victoria altered the natural flow of water causing flooding that later turned the area into a wetland.

[00:02:39]Among those affected is Viola Kato Ssejjide, a mother of six who says she invested her savings in building a permanent home for her family. Today she says a tent is the only shelter they can afford.

[00:03:09]Caroline Namakosi says the demolition came at a time when she was already struggling after losing her source of income following the eviction of street vendors from the city.

[00:03:32]The biggest concern among these residents is that the enforcement is selective. Many question why some large developments near the shores of Lake Victoria appear untouched while their homes have been demolished. However, NEMA insists that the exercise is being carried out fairly and strictly according to environmental regulations.

[00:03:52]>> This is not true.

[00:03:56]In us doing this work, we are guided by the National Environmental Act Cap 181.

[00:04:04]The act is not segregative at all.

[00:04:08]Even the what you call the so the so-called big fish, we we we evict them.

[00:04:13]We restore those those places.

[00:04:16]I'll give an example of places like Luwero.

[00:04:19]All those miners, people who have been mining sand there are big have been actually very big, huge. I want to use the word huge. But they have been thrown out of the wetland. Now, the wetland is beginning to to get back to normal.

[00:04:35]A few days a few a few days ago like two days ago, we had another big fish Nile perch.

[00:04:43]Nile perch was degrading River Nile.

[00:04:47]We took Nile perch to court and yesterday the magistrate gave us gave us a win.

[00:04:53]And these people are going to pay for their wrongdoing.