NEMA Destroy, Evict Pentecostal Church Out of Wetland 

National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) in conjunction with Environmental Police have destroyed property worth millions of money as it evicted a Pentecostal church out of a wetland located at Seeta in Mukono Municipality. 

NEMA identified the evicted church as Blood of Jesus Ministries International located opposite Seeta High School Main Campus along Kampala-Jinja highway. The operation was conducted on Monday afternoon under a heavy police deployment.

Naomi Namara Karekaho, the NEMA Development Communicator and Educator told this website that the church developed beyond what was approved on its paperwork presented to NEMA that resulted into constructing a church in a wetland, leaving intact the land which the pastor proposed for church’s development.

Apart from the church, the houses which were accommodating the church ministers and a pit latrine were among the destroyed property.

NEMA hired ghetto youths from the city who were equipped with pick axes which they used to first cut the iron sheets off the church before applying a chainsaw machine which cut church poles, leaving it down.

NEMA’s action attracted mixed reaction from the public whereby some supported it and others criticized and challenged it for selective evictions.

Richard Lugoloobi Kasiriivu, the chairperson Kiwanga-Lwanda cell said that what NEMA has started to do has been long overdue.

“Many of our wetlands have been claimed by investors who have built factories there leaving the locals to suffer the consequences. I wish NEMA also go for those ones too,” Kasiriivu said.

The church members however referred to NEMA’s eviction of their church as a witch-hunt saying there are a lot of developments in the wetlands which are untampered with.

“We just can’t imagine which yardstick did NEMA use to only come for our church yet from Kampala to Jinja and beyond, there are alot of wetland degredation activities,” John Okecho said.

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