Bugoma Central Forest Reserve was gazetted in 1932 with an area of 41144 hectares. The forest is ranked 12 among the conservation forests in Uganda and has a high biodiversity that houses 257 tree species, 21 mammal species including endangered Chimpanzees , 118 moats species and 292 butterfly species and 221 bird species with Nahan’s Francolin, an endangered bird found only in Bugoma, Mabira and Budongo Forests.
But part of this forest reserve fell into dispute when the Bunyoro Kingdom demanded to demarcate it with claims that it does not belong to Bugoma Central Forest Reserve under the National Forest authority.
The land under dispute comprises of plot 216, Buhanguzi Block 2 in the names of the Omukama of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom on behalf of his subjects. This means that 8000 hectares, which is about 20% out of 41,144 hectares of the entire Bugoma forest cover. This also means that giving away this portion of the forest reserve, therefore results to a great loss of the Natural gift of biodiversity to the country.
In this regard, Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom demanded a land title for this portion of land located in Muhangaizima village Kyangwali Sub County, which was then offered to them by the Ministry of Lands. The Kingdom however, had plans to sell off this land to an investor to grow sugarcane and as well construct a sugar factory in the area.
The Prime Minister Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom, Norman Lukumu says that part of Bugoma central forest reserve measuring 6.5 Square Miles belongs to the Kingdom and therefore, intend to protect the natural resources of Bunyoro and not to fight the National Forest Authority. He says that the Natural resources here were protected by the common people even before it was gazetted in 1932.
To the kingdom, the construction of the sugar factory would create income generating activities to the surrounding community and employment in the entire area, which contributes to developments in the Kingdom.
This was now a successful deal that sparked off excitement in the community in Kyangwali area, forcing them to commit themselves in the struggle with the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom to demarcate the claimed Land for the investor to start work.
Later, in September 2016 government ordered the Ministry of Lands to cancel the Land Title offered to the Kingdom, after establishing that the land in dispute is actually located in Bugoma Central Forest Reserve.
The letter of cancellation was written on the 1st September 2016 and signed by Sarah Kulata Basangwa, the Commissioner for land registration in the Ministry of lands to challenge the legality of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom’s land title.
However, this did not go well with the Kingdom, which filed an application for temporal stay of the cancellation to allow the activities of the Kingdom and Hoima Sugar Limited. The application was however dismissed by the High Court in Masindi on the 6th September 2016.
This however, resulted into the NFA suing the Omukama of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom, Dr. Solomon Iguru Gafabusa together with the Uganda Land Commission for fraudulent concealment and stealthily applying for freehold title on part of the forest.
It is also noted that the boundary between the land in dispute and Bugoma Central Forest Reserve cannot easily be established as there is no cadastral maps that qualifies the boundaries.
The dispute over this land stretches to the extent of cadastral maps, which can show the actual boundaries of such land. Some of the concerned surveyors for Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom claimed that government does not have the cadastral map, which NFA would use to draw the required boundary for the land in dispute.
They claim that NFA instead uses colonial maps taken during colonial times to mark the boundaries and that there was no land surveyed in Hoima district during colonial times because of the fear to encounter Tsetse flies.
Given the serious efforts to protect conservation, the land has been secured and conservation activities are being conducted positively by the NFA.