By Derrick Ampereza
Residents of Kihihi su b-county in Kanungu district whose survival depended on poaching have called upon the government to fulfill its promise of erecting an electric fence along Queen Elizabeth National Park if the human-wildlife conflict is to be resolved.
Last year, the state minister for tourism Martin Mugara and other Kanungu district leaders visited the areas where they told residents that an electric fence would be erected along the border line of the park at the beginning of 2023 but all in vain.
The Kameme reformed poachers Association chairperson Julius Tumushabe Muhoozi- revealed that the electric fence is their only hope if they are to live happily along the park, growing and harvesting their gardens in peace.
Tumushabe further revealed to our reporter that he left poaching in 2009 and since then, it has given him peace of mind therefore calling upon all poachers to stop it and focus on other economic activities.
Rosette Kyomugisha, the wife to Tukamushaba, said that he is now happy to find that her husband stopped poaching because she was always afraid of him losing his life in the park doing illegal poaching.
Kyomugisha added that ever since the husband stopped poaching, they have engaged in other economic activities which have uplifted their family than poaching where her husband wasted a lot of time.
