Allan Ssewanyana the Makindye East Member of Parliament, has been arrested by the environment police, Monday Times Uganda reports
Ssewanyana was arrested at a demolished Kyengeza, Munyonyo market in Makindye Division, Kampala on Monday morning.
A combined force of environment police and National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) demolished structures in an ongoing eviction of encroachers.
According to the Daily Monitor, the MP had visited the scene to assess the losses suffered by vendors.
“Don’t sit back as police demolishes your structures. And moreover they are acting in a way that we as leaders are not informed,” Mr Ssewanyana said before his arrest.
The vendors said they had been paying for space between Shs1 million and Shs 2 million to some local leaders.
In a June 8 letter, NEMA executive director, Dr Tom Okurut, ordered residents of Sankala Village, Makindye Division, to vacate the wetland with immediate effect.
The eviction is part of the ongoing operation to clear wetlands of encroachment.
According reports, more than 10,000 people will be evicted from wetlands in Kampala Metropolitan area by the end of this year, the Deputy Commander of the Environmental Police, Kampala Metropolitan, Mr Emmanuel Esabu said.
“We are enforcing an order by the President to evict all illegal encroachers in wetland, forests, lake shorelines and other environment gazette areas. In Kampala Metropolitan alone, there are at least 10,000 people who are illegally living in wetlands and we will have them removed,” Esabu said.
