A lion in Queen Elizabeth National Park
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) wants Government to avail it UGX10Bn to purchase a helicopter that will be used to monitor national parks, rescue animals and quick transportation of veterinary doctors to treat animals injured in the wild.
Dorcus Rukundo Twesigomwe, Business Development Manager at UWA made the revelation on 27th January 2026, while appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Tourism, during the consideration of the Tourism sector’s 2026/27 National Budget Framework Paper.
“The members were asking, this helicopter at UGX10Bn, does it include maintenance? This UGX10Bn does not include maintenance. We are hoping that we are going to procure a brand-new helicopter and therefore maintenance will come slightly later. This helicopter will be used for surveillance of our protected areas, it will help us to do patrols and rescue (injured/unwell) animals,” Rukundo said.
Her remarks were in response to questions raised by Sylvia Nayebare (Gomba Woman MP) and David Kalwanga (Busujju County) who sought a breakdown of the cost and the purpose of the chopper.
Rukundo defended the purchase arguing, “Sometimes we have animals that have been attacked or have been snapped by the poachers and we want to rescue, to help these animals. So, we take the doctors there to help and administer some treatments to the animals. And then also the helicopter helps us in ecological monitoring to see where the invasive are, because the areas are vast. So sometimes we can’t do this on land and we have to do it in air, and sometimes we use it to do the census that we conduct every year, the census that we conduct every year in our different parks.”
The discussion followed the presentation by UWA on how the UGX240Bn allocated in the budget will be spent where the Authority noted that UGX92Bn will be spent on; salaries, social security, medical and burial expenses, while UGX42Bn would be spent on rent, utilities, insurance, fuel, ICT.
The proposal by UWA to spend UGX30Bn on construction of electric fences at Murchison Falls National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park, while setting aside UGX10Bn to compensate human to wildlife victims generated most debate in the Committee, with MPs describing the allocation as meagre given the huge demand for these services.
