A game ranger at the Mt. Elgon National Park was in detention for allegedly persecuting civilians and extorting money from suspected encroachers.

Patrick Gaboi attached to Wanale ranger post was arrested during a meeting convened by the inspector general of police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura.

Mbale district police commander Alfred Bitwire said Gaboi was identified as the ranger who agonized and obtained by threat sh20,000 from a man suspected to have set a disputed section of the park on fire.
Bitwire said the meeting, held at Bufumbo sub-county headquarters, received complaints from civilians who were tortured.
He said people’s crops and homes had been destroyed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) law enforcers as they attempted to secure the disputed section of the national park.
The chief warden of the national park, Moses Serugo, denied claims that his staff had dispossessed people from the doubtful section of the park.

UWA chief Moses Mapesa, however, said the community bordering the park was to blame for the dispute over the boundary. He added that surveyors traced and planted boundary marks but the community would transfer the marks to create their own boundaries .

He said that they were not going to stand in the way of the law and the truth will be documented and at the end of the day the law will prevail.

UGANDA SAFARI NEWS