Last month I told you that the High Court of Kampala in Uganda ordered the Board of Trustees for the Uganda Wildlife Authority dissolved in the wake of a scandal over the executive director’s dismissal. You’ll recall I said the court decision would likely nullify the UWA’s “temporary” suspension of sport hunting announced back in August. Not only has that turned out to be true, but operators have been told that their quotas for 2011 will remain intact. At press time, they were still waiting for those assurances to be put in writing.
The desire to review quotas and conduct population surveys was the reason the UWA’s Board of Trustees had given for suspending hunting and the 2011 quotas. However, when I enquired about the surveys back in August, nobody at the UWA could tell me when they intended to conduct them. At this writing, most of the trustees have been dismissed, leaving the board without a quorum. A new board of trustees should be seated very soon. Once that happens, the UWA will proceed with business and the hunting quotas should be finalized. At least one of the safari operators in Uganda is certain that, if nothing else, “gazetted” hunt areas will have confirmed quotas in time for the 2011 season.
Subscriber and occasional correspondent Cameron Hopkins had just returned from Uganda at press time and filed a report on what he learned about the latest developments there. He explains the difference between gazetted and other hunt areas in this way: “The term ‘gazetted,’ is vital to understanding the big picture in Uganda. There are three types of hunting areas, national game reserves, communal hunting areas and private land. Only national reserves are “gazetted,” a term that refers to legislation that has passed the Ugandan parliament and been signed into law by the president. Gazetted areas cannot be ‘taken away’ by UWA without a court’s approval, and the courts are loathe to overturn a gazetted law. Communal hunting areas are run by local district councils and do not have the backing of UWA (i.e., no game rangers are tasked with helping enforce anti-poaching laws). Private land is just that; the Ssese Islands area is the only privately-owned hunting area in Uganda at present.” No matter what kind of hunting area you may be booked to hunt in 2011, be sure to check in with your operator to make sure all is in place for this season.....
