NEMA Boss Dr Akankwasah faces backlash after threatening unlawful land eviction

The Executive Director of National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Dr. Akankwasa Barirega is embroiled in a controversy surrounding his alleged abuse of office and threatening illegal eviction of a prominent Poultry Farmer in Bendegere village, Katabi Town Council in Entebbe Municipality.

Akankwasah who has lived in the same village for less than three years has come under fire after reportedly disguising under NEMA laws and threatened to evict Mr. Lawrence Nkalubo, the owner and proprietor of Nkalubo Farm, occupying 2.3 acres of land and consists of 20,000-layer poultry birds, 120 pigs, and cottage feeds mill, a business he has managed for 25 years.

Mr. Nkalubo’s family acquired this land in 1994 through his mother, Aida Nabatanzi, and they have lived on this land since its requisition. Stakeholders claim that for many years the area in Bendegere was bushy and isolated, with no nearby neighbors, and that Nkulabo’s family originally occupied 4 acres, which has since been reduced to 2.3 acres currently holding the farm.

It should be noted that in his letter dated Monday, 23rd June 2025 addressed Mr. Nkalubo Lawrence Damulira Sebwami titled ‘’CONTINUATION OF EMISSION OF FOUL SMELL FROM CHICKEN AND PIG REARING ACTIVITIES AT A FARM LOCATED IN NKUMBA BENDEGERE, KATABI TOWN COUNCIL, WAKISO DISTRICT’’, and copied to several offices including the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Water and Environment Kampala District, the Chief Administrative Officer Wakiso District, Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Wakiso District and the Commandant Environmental Protection Police Unit Ministry of Water and Environment Kampala District , Dr Barirega claims  that chicken and pigs release a foul smell which inconveniences the neighboring residents, Poor waste management practices at the facility which other stakeholders and neighbors in the same village suggests are a witch-hunt and baseless aimed at frustrating Nkalubo.

‘’ Mr. Akankwasa, the Executive Director of NEMA, has used his position to lodge serious complaints, allegedly hiding behind NEMA laws to evict, demolish, and relocate my farm enterprise within a time limit of 21 days (June-July). This is based on bias, personal witch-hunting, and is detrimental to H.E. the President’s wealth and job creation programs. It is consequently perceived as a deliberate move to frustrate my projects, yet I am already burdened with recently acquired bank loans of UGX 1 billion from Post Bank and UGX 350 million from Centenary Bank in 2024 and 2025, for which the farm was presented as collateral’’, Nkalubo told this publication.

During a village meeting held at Nkalubo’s farm on Sunday , residents argued that stopping Mr. Nkalubo’s farm will certainly lead to permanent loss of livelihood and bankruptcy.

‘’Given that H.E. the President is promoting commercial agriculture, job and wealth-creation initiatives among Ugandans, such an operation by NEMA through the RDC’s office under the guise of enforcing environmental laws and regulations of the NEMA Act, as quoted in the Executive Director’s letter, is a brutal and inhumane act. It is perceived as being engineered by self-centered officers in government, with the aim of sabotaging and undermining H.E. ‘s campaigns to eradicate poverty through agribusiness development’’, said Mpanga Samuel, the LCI of Bendegere village.

MUSEVENI SUPPORTED NKALUBO

Mr. Nkalubo started this farm project in 2000. At one time, H.E. The President gave him UGX 50 million as seed capital, recognizing him as a devoted, patriotic cadre and mobilizer. Furthermore, Mr. Nkalubo has been instrumental in helping the Government fight illegal fishing on Lake Victoria, having served as the chairman of the illegal fishermen’s association (an activity he abandoned).

He has since assisted the Government in demobilizing illegal fishing by employing over 30 former illegal fishers through H.E. ‘s campaign for alternative income generation among Ugandan fishing communities (SCAIAFU). He has also motivated many of his colleagues to adopt the same approach.

‘’It is important to note that most neighbors around Bendegere, including the Executive Director of NEMA, only bought land and built there recently, from 2021 to the present. The main complainant, Mr. Akankwasa, has been a resident of Bendegere Village for less than two years’’, said Nkalubo.

In his submission, Mr. Nkalubo stated that most of his neighbors around the farm have lived in harmony with him and have never raised any complaints about foul smells, noise, or other inconveniences caused by his farm. These neighbors include Joel Muyanja, Sseruga, Musiramu, Henry, Dorah, and others.

Locals say it is rare for a project of this scale to be ordered to relocate based on NEMA laws, when many other Ugandans freely carry out poultry and piggery farming at their homes.

‘’If it is true that Mr. Lawrence Nkalubo has violated NEMA laws for the past 25 years, the most appropriate action would be to guide and sensitize him on eco-friendly farming practices that allow him to coexist harmoniously with his neighbors, rather than ordering the relocation of his farm. Secondly taking logic into consideration, one wonders why the purported neighbours complaining about Mr. Nkalubo’s farm could lead to his relocation yet this family has lived in this area for years compared to them who have just settled in Bendegere Village. On what basis can such an egocentric action be based on a Historical resident of the Village because of complaints from people who have just come in to settle in the area and who found this firm existing?’’.

Nkalubo and locals want President Museveni to halt this operation by NEMA and

ensure that Mr. Nkalubo’s farm is provided with the necessary security to protect this multi-billion-shilling investment, even while enforcing NEMA laws by the Enforcement Unit.