By Mulengera Reporters
Through its Company Secretary, Kyampisi Mukono-based Yihu Construction Company (owned by Chinese investors) on Monday pleaded guilty to criminal charges relating to wetland degradation and encroachment. Being the directing and controlling mind of the Company, the Company Secretary on it’s behalf effectively pleaded guilty before Makindye-based Standards, Utilities & Wildlife Court Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu.
Prosecuting the company were a team of prosecutors from NEMA who were led by Counsel Carol. The Company makes pavers and other materials used to manufacture housing construction equipment for Uganda Police Force, among other clients. In otherwards, submissions made by their lawyer to Court made it clear that Yihu Construction Company Ltd has a running contract with the Uganda Police.
The prosecution case that was ably argued by Counsel Carol was that the company constructed a perimeter wall fence, a significant part of which sat on the protected wetland area contrary to the relevant legal provisions. The company owns under 5 acres of land in Mukono’s Kyampisi and their perimeter wall fence gradually enlarged to cover a wetland part which is supposed to be a protected space at all times.
It was submitted for prosecution that the company originally had an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificate which expired in November 2024. It had been issued to them in 2019. They had applied for renewal last September but their application was rejected on grounds of ongoing wetlands encroachment.
Rejection of the renewal was communicated to them on 2nd June this very year. So they are up to now operating without any valid NEMA certificate which raises legal questions for their operations. The defense lawyer owned up to all this and begged the Magistrate for mercy and leniency on behalf of his client.
Wondering why they had taken all this time to demolish that part of their fence, which covers the wetland, all these months since NEMA made it clear to them that this was an illegal structure, the Magistrate rebuked company executives and decision-makers.
She also queried the same company executives about the alleged back filling of the land nearby with the overall objective of enlarging and widening their encroachment activities.
She rebuked the defense lawyer for wearing a bold face and for having guts to represent such a company on a matter of wetland degradation whose consequences impact all humanity regardless of race, status and religion. Combative as always, Kamasanyu wondered where NEMA had been for all this long when such a big company was operating such a big project without having the required valid EIA certificate which the law makes mandatory. She also wondered why they had been tolerated to erect concrete structures on the Kyampisi wetland without any statutory authorization.
The Magistrate agreed with the prosecution case that the offence was serious given that wetlands’ encroachment, similar to what Yihu Construction Company owned up to, prevents degraded wetlands from playing their role of being water catchment areas.
The Magistrate also reflected on the fact that degraded wetlands cease to be effective habitation places for wildlife on top of becoming cause of flooding in Kampala and other Greater Metropolitan Area settlements.
The prosecutor demanded for maximum sentencing to serve the deterrence purpose since wetland degradation was lately on the increase as Uganda rapidly urbanizes.
However, the Magistrate wound up by sentencing the Company to a caution on grounds that it was a first time offender whose directing & controlling minds (namely directors) had exhibited remorse and avoided wasting court’s time by pleading guilty.
She also directed restoration of the damaged wetland, at the cost of the offending Yihu Construction Company. The degraded wetland must be restored within 30 days counting from the sentencing date. NEMA was directed to supervise and ensure that the ordered restoration is done satisfactorily.
Her Worship Kamasanyu also said that handing down harsher sentencing, such as closing down the company and outlawing its operation, would hurt the survival chances of the more than 150 Ugandans working for it at Kyampisi.
As she saw off the parties and their lawyers, Her Worship Kamasanyu menacingly looked at the impugned Company’s secretary and the defense lawyer while proclaiming that “please tell your [Chinese] bosses to leave our wetlands alone.”
Some observers in the court felt the Chinese company merited receiving a harsher sentence because such wetland degradation activities by foreign investors have lately become rampant. Their view was that the Magistrate should have handed down the maximum sentencing as is prescribed in the law. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
