IGG Probing NFA Operations After Receiving 34 Complaints

It is estimated that over 500,000 acres of forests are cut annually throughout Uganda, this is equivalent to deforesting 43 football fields every hour.

 In 2021, Uganda lost 49,000 hectares of tree cover, equivalent to 23.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. 

This prompted the president of Uganda General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to issue a directive on illegal cutting of trees in forests (Mabira).

In a bid to implement the president's directive, The Inspector General of Government (IGG), Beti Kamya, has decided to launch an investigation into the operations of the National Forestry Authority (NFA), citing 34 complaints ranging from allegations of financial mismanagement to irregularities in human resource recruitment.

Kamya, accompanied by a team of investigators, arrived at the NFA offices early Thursday morning and was received by the acting Executive Director, Stuart Maniraguha, alongside other senior technical officers.

During her address to the NFA management team, Kamya revealed that her office had received numerous complaints from across the country, questioning the agency's handling of resources allocated by both the government and donors.

Kamya emphasized the seriousness of the investigation, classifying it as high profile designation typically reserved for cases involving sums exceeding shs1 billion.

NFA Acting Executive Director, Stuart Maniraguha, acknowledged the challenges faced by the agency in fulfilling its mandate to manage the country’s 506 central forest reserves.