By Benjamin Rukwengye
The debate about Mabira forest and its proposed giveaway by government (read President Yoweri Museveni) has got no middle ground; it is either, or.

President Museveni, more than he was in 2007, seems more determined to give part of the forest land away to Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited (SCOUL) for sugarcane growing, reasoning that the country needs more sugar. His opponents on the other hand, led by Beatrice Anywar and a plethora of real and imagined environmental protection organisations seem more geared for the fight than they were four years ago.

This Mabira debate first reared its head on the scene about four years ago, and after the dust had settled, 3 Ugandans and an Indian national had lost their lives, property had been lost and whereas the forest was not “taken” then, one wonders whether Uganda was the eventual winner after the computation of the xenophobic attacks, bloodshed and millions of losses that accrued from the demonstration – eventually riots – that rocked Kampala that time.

To understand how this Mabira furor will end, you need to put the persona of the donor – in this case, President Museveni – into perspective. Over the years, the president has demonstrated his single-minded ability to back what he believes in whatever the amount of debate involved. If you need evidence, look at the Shimoni land give away, Bujagali dam construction, land bill (now Act) and Cultural leaders bill (now Act). All the above were vehemently opposed, some were even at the expense of his support but he stuck to his guns and did what he deemed was right.

That not withstanding, what is dumbfounding is the level of hypocrisy and opportunism that these supposed environmentalists continue to exhibit. It is four years now since the first attempted give away of Mabira forest by President Museveni and one wonders what Mama Mabira and her lieutenants have done towards not just the preservation of the already existing forest cover but most importantly, towards the expansion of forests and tree planting in the country.

In the last four years, Beatrice Anywar has done everything; she has walked to work, cried in parliament after Dr. Kizza Besigye’s arrest, returned a bribe allegedly given by government and broken parliament’s doors, all these pranks have somehow received ample airtime on television and radio and inches of columns in the newspapers. What Beatrice Anywar has not done in the last four years is launch any campaign towards tree planting – at least no effort to that effect has been recorded by Google which brings up information of the Kitgum Woman Member of Parliament involved in every bout, save for one she now claims she would give her life for. Please!

The same can be said for the people that are now masquerading as environmental activists through groups like NAPE-Uganda and particularly ACODE, whose promoters have been involved in everything political and nothing tangible in their pursuit of a more environmentally- conscious Uganda that they are now promoting. If you have kept quiet for all these years, where do you get the moral authority to talk about saving Mabira? Does your mandate to save the environment only stop with Mabira, and only when the President tries to give part of it away? Let us stop taking Ugandans for a ride.

The debate on whether we need more sugar and whether Mabira has got to be sacrificed for us to get that sugar ought to be left to Ugandans who own the rights to the forest. And they voice their position through the parliament, and the executive because they have entrusted them with the mantle of talking vital decisions that concern their lives at least for the next five years.   But neither does the forest belong to these donor funded activists cum politicians who are always raring to pick a fight with the regime using every available tool. Each of them seems to harbor ulterior motives. In simple language, let the sugar versus environment debate be left to Ugandans.

The author works with Uganda Media Centre

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