The road is a major business route serving as the main connection to West Nile, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It has however been in poor shape for several years, with many of the road sections having developed large potholes and gullies, often paralysing normal traffic flow.
Anaka Sub-County LC III Chairperson, Morris Kakanyero Opiyo told URN in an interview Wednesday that initially, five men entered the park on a hunting trip. He however says that one of them escaped during an encounter with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers before alerting local leaders about his colleagues three days later.
UWA had planned to erect electric fences on the National Park’s border with the sub-counties of Purongo, Got Apwoyo, Anaka, Koch Goma, and Koch Lii all in Nwoya District.
Miriam Akello, a farmer in Ceke B Parish, Lii Sub County says that they do not sleep in their houses. She says that the elephants do not only eat the crops but also trample on them.
Pauline Odong, the Coorom Parish councilor told URN that she also witnessed the strange color of the water and the death of the fish before receiving complaints from the residents.
Emmanuel Orach, the Nwoya district chairperson told members of the community on Friday that this is one of the initiatives to see that Nwoya district go green adding that it is a great stride to saving the environment.
Nwoya District is endemic to rabies but hadn’t had mass vaccination against rabies, a viral disease of mammals usually transmitted through the bite of an infected animal for the last four years.
Dr. James Ukwir, Nwoya District Production officer and also District Veterinary officer says rainwater helped to wash away eggs and the larvae, while Bernard Maktunu, an Agricultural Officer in Got Apowyo Sub-county told URN that birds from Murchison Falls National Park have also played a great role in clearing the armyworms by eating them up.
Geoffrey Opiyo, the Chairman of Koch Goma Town Council says that the assailants who were trailing the deceased all the way from Gulu City shot Kimera at Bungamon Village on the Koch Goma –Gulu Highway.
Geoffrey Opiyo, a commercial rice farmer in Got Apwoyo Sub County told URN that last season he lost 20 acres of rice which were eaten and stamped on by some of the stray elephants.
Emmanuel Orach, the Nwoya District LC V Chairperson has identified the deceased as Barbara Ayeerwoth, three and half years and her two-year-old brother Jonathan Rwotomiya.
The installation of the electric fence covering a 20-kilometre stretch around the Park started in January 2020 to stop wild animals from straying into human settlements. The move followed complaints of crop destruction, severe injuries, and death of locals caused by stray animals mostly elephants straying from the National Park.
The multibillion facility will be constructed in Got Apwoyo Government Farm in Got Apwoyo Sub-county, under the Agricultural Value Chain Development Project funded by the African Development Bank-ADB.
The decision comes nearly three weeks after several attempts employed by the district to persuade the pastoralists to voluntarily vacate the land failed.
Bashir Hangi, Uganda Wildlife Authority-UWA Communications Manager told URN that the deceased was in the company of three other colleagues on a journey from Masindi District through the National Park to Arua city while using a Toyota Wish car.
Dr. Rose Anna Ademun, the Commissioner of Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries, says that the government is unable to carry out mass vaccination of livestock in the country due to lack of vaccines.
