To mark 50 years of Uganda’s independence, New Vision will, until October 9, 2012, be publishing highlights of events and profiling personalities who have shaped the history of this country. JOSEPH SSEMUTOOKE brings you the story of Ndyakira Amooti
As Uganda developed her environment management endeavours into a fullyfledged sector in the mid-1980s, with the Government introducing an entire environment ministry and setting up an institutional framework that trickled down to the common man, one part of the process that proved challenging was creating awareness of the concerns across stakeholders. Yet sensitisation of the different stakeholders was a necessity if at all the endeavours were to succeed. A journalist who entered the information trade about that time soon provided a solution to the challenge.
The late Sir Ndyakira Amooti decided to dedicate his efforts in journalism almost exclusively to environmental issues, creating awareness about Uganda’s environmental issues, among all stakeholders through his media coverage of the various aspects of the cause.
He in the process became Uganda’s first Environment journalist, globally-celebrated and he garnered numerous awards for his work. He had contributed immensely to the success of the country’s environmental cause by the time he died in
1999.
Reporting on and analysing environmental issues When he joined Uganda media in the mid-1980s, there was no journalist concentrating on reporting on environmental issues in the country.
So when he occasionally reported on and wrote about them (while working like a freelance writer for newspapers as The Topic, The Uganda Times and The People he became the first journalist to report extensively on environment issues and was the only environment journalist in the country for most of the time he practised. In 1987 he joined the New Vision, and there he dedicated himself almost exclusively to covering the country’s environmental issues.
It was at the New Vision that he most worked to raise the public’s environmental consciousness and tackle public ignorance about the need to protect the country’s natural resources.
Since the paper became the country’s leading English daily with a large readership shortly after he joined, his campaign reached far and wide.
Through a combination of feature stories and exposés, he uncovered many cases of wrongdoing and thereby spurred the Government to take action. Among the many causes he wrote about, were the endangered mountain gorillas, the forests of Bwindi, illegal mining, wrongful draining of swamps and poaching. When Uganda suddenly became a major transit point for wildlife smugglers, Ndyakira alerted the world about the problem.
In September 1994, he helped two Americans undercover wildlife agents mount a sting operation at Entebbe Airport. Putting himself at risk, Ndyakira exposed the smuggling of endangered chimpanzees and African great grey parrots (both endangered species protected by the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species [CITES) by airport personnel, game officers and businessmen.
Ugandans became concerned about wildlife trafficking and as a result, authorities began arresting many smugglers. While reporting on the upland forests of Bwindi, home to a group of rare mountain gorillas, one of the world’s most endangered species, Ndyakira exposed illegal mining, poaching and tree-cutting. Ndyakira’s exposé led the Parliament to change Bwindi from a forest reserve to a national park.
In 1997, he teamed with Prof. John Okedi and Dr.Aryamanya Mugisha (then NEMA executive director and deputy executive director) to fight off a plan to spray Lake Victoria without an environmental impact assessment. Shortly before his death he averted the Government action to degazette a unique forest for use by industry. Many times he did his activism to protect the environment at the risk of his own safety and in defiance of wealthy offenders who tried to bribe him into silence.
Awards:
Amooti’s dedicated and consistent activism for the environment fetched him recognition and awards from across the world.
In 1995 he was awarded the Global 500 Roll of Honour of the United Nations Environment Programme, awarded to outstanding environmentalists. The same year he was knighted by Netherlands’ Prince Benhard, becoming ‘Sir’ as he was made a Knight of the Order of the Golden Ark. That same year he received a letter of commendation from the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Phillip.
In 1996, he was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, the largest and most prominent prize for a grassroots ordinary individual working for the good of the environment. At the World Wetlands Day in 2008, he was honoured with a memorial lecture.
Creating Awareness among Children:
Ndyakira went as far as working to inculcate environmental awareness among children. He wrote a series of environmental books meant for young people to help them understand the need for environmental appreciation and protection right from an early age. He published the children’s book What a Country Without Animals.
In 1998, and later published the books What a Country Without Birds, What a Country Without Grasslands and What a Country Without Wetlands. The books are about environmental issues, written for children from nine to 12 years.
