By Spy Uganda
Amidst a land row that has lasted for a couple of years at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary located in Nakasongola, police yesterday arrested 28 people who are suspected to have vandalised multimillion properties at the same spot.
Isah Ssemwogerere, the Savannah Region Police Spokesperson says suspects pretended to be tourists to gain access to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary where they broke into offices and vandalized property using hammers and axes.
They destroyed office equipment such as computers and furniture worth millions of Shillings. According to Ssemwogerere, police swung in action swiftly and managed to apprehend the suspects.
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Preliminary investigations show that the vandals came from Kampala with a mission to destroy property because of the ongoing feud between Rhino Fund Uganda [RFU] and Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranches [ZRWR], the owners of the 16,000 acres of land hosting the sanctuary.
The development comes a day after Uganda Wildlife Authority [UWA] issued a statement indicating their plans to relocate 33 Rhinos from Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary because of the land dispute.
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Bashir Hangi, the UWA Communications Manager said in a statement released Friday that they took over security at the sanctuary to secure the Rhinos until the conflict between Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranches and Rhino Fund Uganda is resolved.
Background Of This Land Row
The fight over this land is between Flight Captain, Joseph Charles Roy (JCR) and his family trading as Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch (ZRWR) at one hand and a South African investor, Angella (Angie) Genade, the Executive Director of Rhino Fund Uganda (RFU) on the other.
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Capt. Roy accuses Genade of attempting to grab his 16,000 acres of land he had leased to RFU while Genade has been accusing Capt. Roy of wanting to evict them from the ranch.
Few years ago, President Yoweri Museveni met the two parties, gave each of them to explain their case and after listening he reportedly ruled out that the land in question belonged to Capt. Roy and nobody would forcefully take it away from him although this has never solved anything.
