The Standards, Utilities and Wildlife Court sentenced one Pascal Ochiba to life imprisonment for unlawful possession of two pieces of elephant ivory weighing 9.55 kilograms without a wildlife use
right.
Ochiba was arrested on January 18, 2022 in Namuwongo zone, Kampala. While sentencing Ochiba, the Chief Magistrate of the Standards, Utilities and Wildlife Court Her worship Gladys Kamasanyu said, the offences of unlawful possession of protected species are rampant, hence a need to curb them down.
According to court records, Ochiba was a habitual offender having been charged in 2017 with two counts of unlawful possession of protected species and convicted by the same court.
The magistrate noted that, leaving Ochiba in circulation increases the risk of killing of endangered species, adding that he deserves a sentence that will contribute to making the world a safer place
for wildlife and humans.
On July 4, 2017, Ochiba was first arrested from Namuwongo after being found with four pieces
of ivory and a dry skin of an Okapi without a valid use right, and was consequently sentenced to eighteen
months in jail for both counts which he served concurrently.
Sam Mwandha, the Executive Director for Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has described the sentence as a landmark achievement in the fight against illegal wildlife trade.
“We are happy to see the maximum sentence being handed to a wildlife offender. We must do our best in our times to protect our wildlife, otherwise history will judge us harshly,” he said.
African Elephants conservation
Elephants are protected under appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES); as species are threatened by extinction due to trade while the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the African forest elephant as critically endangered and the African savannah elephant as endangered.
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