A report last week about oil companies coming under scrutiny has drawn a comment from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in regard to alleged comments made by some of their staff and then reported in the local media and here, over the presence of security personnel inside protected areas, in particular in Murchisons Falls National Park.

As was expected, UWA welcomed the support the country’s security services offered it to keep parks safe, and categorically denied that there was any rift or disagreement between the two bodies.

UWA’s CEO Moses Mapesa also availed this response: “On Murchison, the statement was very wrong. We work with the UPDF very well. We only said we shall require additional security now that we have oil and may have to locate more security camps inside the park but keep all workers camps outside. It is the worker’s camps that are problematic.”