Uganda: Crocodiles, Tse Tse Flies Terrify Mayuge District Residents


The Monitor (Kampala)

5 December 2007
Posted to the web 4 December 2007

Fred Siminyu
Mayuge

RESIDENTS of Malongo Sub County in Mayuge are living in a state of fear due to threats posed by crocodiles, tsetse flies and hippopotami and wild pigs that have in recent times destroyed their crops.

The area's councilor to the District Council, Mr Moses Lubanga, told Daily Monitor last Wednesday that the crocodiles kill an average of four people per month, while five people have in the past one week been diagnosed with sleeping sickness and admitted in Mayuge Hospital.


He said since a greater part of Malongo Sub County lies within the South Busoga Forest Reserve borders of Lake Victoria, residents live not only in danger of the crocodiles but are also faced with the nuisance of hippos and the wild pigs that destroy crops every season.

The same area is also exposed to the sleeping sickness transmitting tsetse fly menace. The flies roam the forests and the entire shoreline and have claimed many lives in the recent past.

He said residents of Bukizibu landing site on the shores of Lake Victoria in his Sub County were on Tuesday November 27 gripped with fear when a crocodile attacked and killed one of them in broad daylight.

He said Mr Edward Gwebayanga 20, had gone to bathe in the lake when the reptile suddenly emerged out of the water and grabbed him. Efforts to save Mr Gwebayanga were futile.


Mr Lubanga blamed the situation on lack of a district vermin controller who would have sensitised the public on safeguarding themselves against the crocodiles or even kill them.

Mr Lubanga said the tsetse flies had rapidly increased due to lack of an entomologist to control them, adding that residents will evacuate the area unless the district authorities intervene.

The District Chief Administrative Officer, Mr Solomon Ssonko, said the district council had recently resolved to immediately appoint a vermin control officer and an entomologist to solve the problem.