Trading- Off Murchison Falls for Electricity, could be the worst decision of our generation as a country (Uganda)

We live in an era of unprecedented environmental change (Brackett and others 2004). With a rapid population growth of Uganda currently to 45 million,economic growth and international economic integration has intensified resource use around the country. Several forests have decreased an example is Mabira and Bugoma not neglecting wetlands that have been turned into industrial parks resulting into breakneck biodiversity loss and rising climate change.Mitigating and reversing environmental change requires an understanding of its drivers. A week ago, there was an uproar in Uganda on a proposal to establish another power plant at the Murchison Falls National Park after the Karuma Power plant raising so many questions about the future of conservation and ecotourism in the country. Let’s take a look on a brief history of Murchison Falls National Park;Murchison Falls National park is situated in the northern part of Albertine Rift Valley, place where the massive Bunyoro escarpment amalgamate into the enormous plains of Acholi land. It is well known to be one of Uganda’s ancient conservation areas. In 1926, it was known as a game reserve set up to protect the savannah grassland that was talked about by Winston Churchill in 1907 as the great Kew Gardens along with the wildlife blended on a restricted land.

Photo of the Nile gushing at the Murchison Falls ©Photography by Tweny Benjamin

The park covers an area of about 3,893km2 and its known to be one of Uganda’s well protected area. This area is an addition to Murchison falls thus covering an area of about 5,072km2 including Bugungu as well as Karuma wildlife reserves.The park is acknowledged for receiving prominent international visitors. Winston Churchill is a great man who is accredited for having done activities such as boat cruise, hiking as well as cycling along the Nile corridor of the falls. Later on, he was followed by his predecessor who is believed to have spent a lot of money around US$1.8m on his hunting safari in Uganda.Why it is not important to establish another power plant/dam along the nile;Access to electricity (% of population) in Uganda was reported at 26.7 % in 2016, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. With the availability of Sun through out the year, the country has the capacity to power itself solemnly relying on solar power. Why another power plant?Bonang a South African firm seeking to build new hydropower projects at Ayago, Uhuru, Kiba and Murchison Falls and will generate 2,550 MW of electricity leading to a more reliable power supply and a key factor of economic development. Several power firms are operating in Uganda, yet there are more households and homes that don’t have access to electricity as per aforementioned, who benefits from this?By establishing another power plant on the park, the country limits itself from the ecosystems services such as; recreation and ecotourism, maintenance of important landscapes and species, provision of wildlife habitats,erosion control, water regulations (the timing and magnitude of runoff, flooding etc),climate change regulation, genetic information used for animal and plant breeding, food et al.Banks of hope;
The speaker of parliament Rt Hon. Rebecca Kadaga has petitioned government on the proposed establishment of a hydropwer plant on the Murchison Falls, we hope the best comes out of it as the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities can’t even come up with an explanation on what’s going on leaving the task to the private tours and travel firms in the country.In a country where all decisions have to be made by the president, let’s wait and hear from the Commander In Chief; if he is willing to tradeoff the park for yet another hydropower plant.