NEW VISION, Tuesday, November 11, 2014 7NATIONAL NEWS

Ivory impounded by the Uganda Revenue Authority being handed to the Uganda Wildlife Authority staff at Nakawa, Kampala in October 2012. The consignment is part of the 1.3 tonnes that has gone missing from UWA’s armoury

By Gerald Tenywa

In a sudden twist of events, over 1,335kg of ivory worth over sh3b, recovered from elephant poachers over years, has been stolen from the Uganda Wildlife Authority strong room.

Sources said law enforcement staff at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), are the prime suspects. The UWA armoury also acts as a store for wildlife trophies (products from animals killed) and guns.

The ivory scam was unearthed recently after one of the offi cials felt cheated in sharing the loot and reported the matter. This, according to a whistleblower who spoke to New Vision on condition of anonymity, prompted an internal audit of the trophies that has helped to bring the ivory scam to light.

“We have carried out a physical count of ivory and other wildlife products at UWA headquarters to ascertain the amount under custody. In the process of our audit, we have established that 1,335.1 kilogrammes of ivory had gone missing,” according to a 54-page audit report on ivory stock dated October 24.

The stolen ivory is worth $1.134m (sh3b) given that each kilogramme goes for $850 (sh2.2m). The report says people allegedly engaged

Sh3b ivory goes missing at UWAin the racket have been interrogated, but recommends joint investigations by UWA, Police, and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) as well as the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATIF) in order to bring the culprits to book.

The sh3b could construct 50 classroom blocks at sh60m each furnished with 33 desks, two chairs and two tables for the teachers, two blackboards and a lightning rod.

How the racket operatesAccording to the whistleblower, the ivory leaves the armoury in two ways. “The UWA offi cials keeping the stockpiles connive with traders and steal the ivory,” said the source, adding that in some cases the offi cers undertaking investigations take ivory from the armoury purportedly for trapping illegal traffi ckers, but it is never returned to the stores.

Another trick used by UWA’s law enforcement offi cials is to under-declare the confi scated ivory and the balance is sold on the black market.

Ivory stolen from UWA recovered from traffi ckers On December 20, the last year, a huge a consignment of 440 pieces of ivory destined to Malaysia via Lagos was intercepted at Entebbe International Airport. But two pieces, which had been kept as exhibits at the Central Police Station were found in the same consignment raising suspicion.

The two pieces of ivory had been recovered three years ago from a clerk to UWA’s armoury, Prosper Wasike, who has since been charged. Old stockpiles cannot be

traced UWA commissioned an audit on June 6, 2012 which confi rmed that the ivory under custody of UWA offi cials had gone missing.

On September 14, this year, another ivory audit was conducted and discovered that two years after Wasike left UWA, about half a tonne of ivory disappeared from UWA’s armoury

A more recent audit also confi rmed that ivory seized from the 1990s could not be traced and there was no record of any ivory destroyed.

Uganda black listedThe elephants are listed under appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fl ora and fauna (CITES), which regulates trade in endangered species.

Uganda is a party to CITES and its image is being soiled globally. It was lumped among

the gang of eight, which is a list of countries that know what to do regarding conservation of elephants but they are doing little to curb the illegal trade.

Uganda’s elephantsPreviously, Uganda was losing fi ve elephants every year, but this shot up to 18 in 2008 and 25 in 2011. It dropped to 11 last year.

Currently Uganda’s elephant population estimated at 10,000 is growing, according to Aggrey Rwetsiba, the head of research and monitoring at UWA.

He pointed out that Uganda’s largest parks, Murchison, Queen Elizabeth and Kidepo have 6,000 elephants. The rest are mostly forest elephants in Kibaale and Bwindi.

Where is the ivory from? “We do not have all these elephants that are being killed to supply the ivory chain,” said Vincent Opyene of the Natural Resources Conservation

Network, adding that the ivory comes from neighbouring DR Congo and South Sudan that have been hit by political turmoil and civil unrest.

The law on wildlife The wildlife Act has been described by wildlife activists and managers as something that fuels wildlife crime because its punitive measures are weak. According to section 75 of the Wildlife Act, it is illegal to possess, sell or accept the transfer of protected species (elephants and rhinos). Under section 66 of the Wildlife Act, it is illegal to export or import trophies without permits. However, the fi ne is between sh300,000 and sh6m.

The suspects are ChineseAccording to the UWA and police records, most of the suspects are Chinese nationals and a few West Africans meaning the destination of the elephant products is mainly China, which has around 150 government–licensed ivory shops.

In some cases, the ivory is polished to make it appear as art and craft pieces and carried as hand luggage. The large consignments often contain raw ivory (unpolished ivory) are disguised as different kinds of goods.

Activists speak outThe stealing of ivory from UWA’s armoury has been condemned by wildlife activists including the Wildlife Fund for nature (WWF).

“It is shocking that something like this is taking place within UWA,” said David Duli, the country director at WWF, adding that it shows

corruption is taking a toll on the wildlife agency. “We need expeditious investigation to hold the people engaged in it accountable.”

“Such an act is criminal in nature and we will support the investigations and prosecution of the perpetrators of wildlife crime,” said Opyene.

UWA boss speaks outDr. Andrew Seguya, the executive director at UWA said the ivory could have disappeared during Wasike’s time. But while Wasike left in 2012, the recent audit report shows continued disappearance of ivory in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Asan Kasingye – InterpolUWA’s management has to explain because the ivory is disappearing under their watchful eye. The exhibits have never been destroyed and we expect them to be in UWA’s strong room and if they are disappearing they have to explain.

Munira Ali, the IGG spokespersonWe have received the compliant about ivory stolen from UWA and we are not in a position to handle the matter. We shall hand it over the Uganda Police for further investigation.

The way forward The audit report among other recommendations calls for disciplinary action against the culprits. It also states that further investigations should be undertaken by UWA, Police and UPDF and LATIF (Lusaka Agreement Task Force) should be constituted to bring the culprits to book.

Seguya

confi scated