Tourism Minister, UWEC Chief Warden Visit Entebbe Botanical Gardens

The Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Hon.Tom Butime, on February 28,2025, visited Entebbe Botanical gardens to establish its progress ever since it was transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture to his ministry following a presidential directive to take over Botanical Gardens . The Minister was accompanied by Mr. David Musingo, the Chief Warden of Uganda Wildlife Education conservation Center (UWEC), Mr. George Owesigire- Commissioner for wildlife at the tourism ministry and Mr. Charles Tumwesigye-the Director field operations at Uganda Wildlife Authority plus other UWEC staff.

Mr. David Musingo who led Minister Butime on a guided tour explained that:

‘ The purpose of the Minister’s visit was to inspect Entebbe Botanical Gardens to find out the progress made at the gardens after months when the president directed the Ministry of Tourism to take over Botanical gardens which was initially under the Ministry of Agriculture.  So, when we took over he had to return to establish how far we have gone with fixing the gardens or putting it to order.

‘ Iam very delighted that the Minister took his precious time to inspect Entebbe botanical gardens and he was able to move around the facilities though they were never impressed because they are in bad state due to lack of finance to fix them.  The latrines are in deplorable state and we plan to construct modern toilet facilities and this is in pipeline and very soon construction will commence. We shall also improve the roads within the facility since they are in bad state and the rain is about to begin raining. If we don’t improve roads within the Botanical gardens they are going to become impassable. We have ordered tractors and graders to come and work on these roads by putting in murrum before the rain season starts, ‘Mr. Musingo explained.’

He added that:” The minister had also come to see the illegal settlers in the Botanical gardens and some of them are former employees of National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO) while others are just renting but now time has come to bring sanity and order in the Botanical gardens.  The gardens had a lot of insecurity, had turned into a den of thieves and to make matters worse, many revelers have been beaten up while others have been killed by goons who waylay them in the gardens . 

‘UWA has given a notice of 14 days to tenants who have been living on part of the land that houses Entebbe Botanical Gardens to vacate it. However, they will leave peacefully. These are Ugandans and many of them know very well they have been there illegally and others have lived there for more than a decade and we shall see how to support them financially so that they leave Botanical Gardens.  Last year during the takeover by the Ministry of Tourism we recruited 34 of them as casual workers and we are paying them a salary which is higher than their previous salary of Shs .70, 000.

“We have finalized plans to lit Entebbe Botanical gardens with magnificent lights, and we have already deployed security personnel there to deal with criminals. We have got ten rangers and every night we deploy more than six rangers in Botanical gardens.

‘We are going to put up new offices and improve on the gate.  The most important thing we are now working on is developing a master plan on what is where, where is the area of research? We shall continue working with the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO).  The Agriculture research Organization will continue doing its research on the most endangered indigenous tree species but remember Entebbe Botanical gardens is under Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).  Therefore, the master plan must be in place. Hopefully this master plan will attract investors who would wish to put up restaurants, sports facilities like beach soccer playground, among other things, “Mr. Musingo expressed optimism. ‘

Mr. David Musingo continued:

‘Entebbe Botanical gardens has the potential to be one of the best tourism sites in the country but unfortunately it has been lacking social amenities , good infrastructures and to aggravate matters it has been insecure which has scared away many people who wish to visit the gardens but the good news we have pacified it . Right now we are in the development phase to improve the garden facilities just like the way we have done to facelift all facilities at UWEC.

‘Uwec has improved in terms of infrastructures and programs and the board of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is soon concluding recruitment of UWEC staff. Therefore, Ugandans should get ready to apply for jobs at Entebbe Botanical gardens. There are quite a number of jobs that have been advertised by UWA including Tourism officers, botanists and education officers among others. People should have a look out for these jobs, have their ears on ground and where an opportunity comes they should be able to apply so that we have fully fledged staffs who work in Entebbe Botanical gardens,” Mr.Musingo stated.’

On the issue of the premier of Belarus visiting UWEC Mr. Musingo noted that:

“Last week on Friday, we were privileged to host the premier of Belarus Mr. Roman Golovchenko, who came here at UWEC as a special guest of President Yoweri Museveni. We had the opportunity to take him on a guided tour and we were able to show him the newly constructed elephant holding, we took him to the lions and he experienced how lions feed, we also took him to rhinos and he was so excited to see the southern white rhinos –he was able to touch and feel the rhinos and he confessed that it was his first time to feel the rhino since his creation.

‘Later he proceeded to visit the chimpanzees and fed them with some sweet bananas and watermelons. He was very excited and managed to feed all the twenty three chimpanzees at UWEC. He also visited the giraffes and fed them.  He continued his tour and visited the snake house where he saw pythons and cobras among other snake species.

‘He concluded his tour by visiting the crocodile facility. He was interested in seeing the crocodiles and we have quite a number of them. After touring the zoo facility, he left with his team and promised to come back for another round of tour.  Though time wasn’t enough, as UWEC we are grateful to host such a high level visitor –a special guest to the president of Uganda,” Mr. Musingo expressed his pleasure.’

Regarding the impending Wildlife Day Mr.Musingo said: “We celebrate the global wildlife day every year on 3^rd March. As part of celebrations, we have engaged in a series of activities. For example last week we participated in the crane festival in Isingiro. The Education team engaged communities on issues regarding wetland conservation. We   have participated in competition for primary and secondary schools under outreach teams led by Philip Katabulawo, Richard Otit , Colleagues from UWA and other conservation stakeholders like Dr.Gladys Kalema and other wildlife clubs of Uganda.

“On Sunday March 2, 2025, we have a marathon in Lira and on 3^rd March,2025 , we expect the president to be the Guest of honor as we celebrate  the Wildlife day nationally and globally. The day will be attended by our Tourism Minister Mr. Tom Butime plus other dignitaries, “Mr.Musingo revealed. ‘

On the progress of Mbale zoo or regional satellites Mr. David Musingo explained:

“We are extending our zoo services from Entebbe to other parts of the country. Since the establishment of UWEC in 1952, we have never established other zoos across the country but now the government is supporting us to establish them. We have got land in four sites in Uganda for instance Land in Mbale, Gulu, Kyenjojo and Mbarara for construction of regional zoos or satellite centers. We started with Mbale zoo or regional satellite center and as I speak construction stands at 70-80%. Some facilities have been completed for example the main office, toilet facilities, exhibit for lions and very soon we are taking lions there.  We have also completed exhibits for antelopes, bird aviary and now we are working on the perimeter wall to fence our zoo land and we are also working on the drainage system. We expect all these facilities to be completed by the end of March or at the beginning of April this year. Then we shall prepare for the handover ceremony before we begin our operations. We expect the handover ceremony to take place in June or July this year.

“In the financial year 2025/2026, we should be able to deploy new staff in Mbale.  Besides the zoo facilities , there are other facilities in Mbale that are supposed to be completed including classrooms, rent units, accommodation , a small hospital and some exhibits for animals . Thereafter, we shall go to another region Gulu, Mbarara, or Kyenjojo. Anyway, we shall choose where to start from. But note, this is aimed at providing services closer to people because many schools can’t afford to come to Entebbe except the few rich schools that can make it.

‘Because of time and money, it’s very expensive. By constructing regional satellite centers, this would help us to conserve indigenous local animals that are found within these regions. Some of them are being poached, so this is a big opportunity for us to rescue the local or indigenous animals found in those regions, for example in Mbale-we have black and white colobus monkeys. These monkeys are used for dancing Kadodi (traditional dance), Circumcision as they remove the foreskin of the penis. By having Mbale zoo, this would help to conserve or limit the extinction of black and white colobus monkeys.

“I’m very hopeful the zoos are going to improve the local economy in terms of generating revenue to local governments or cities wherever they are located.  These zoo centers are catchment areas for example Mbale has catchment areas as far as Kenya.  We shall have Kenyans coming to Mbale all the way from Kisumu, Malaba, Busia among other areas. So they will attract revenue and bring in income. This would improve our country’s Gross Domestic product (GDP).

‘The regional zoos and satellite centers are going to employ local people hence they will benefit from them. They will be employed as cleaners and casual laborers in addition to supplying food to these zoos.  For example each lion eats 10 kgs of meat every day and this food or meat will come from the local community.  Therefore, the community will greatly benefit by supplying food and other things. The money got will go back to the community and improve the livelihood of the local community. These are some of the reasons why we have established these zoos or regional satellite centers,” Mr. Musingo clearly explained.’