Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu Musenze of the Standards Wildlife and Utilities Court the sentences and penalties are harsh and ruthless even for wildlife criminals like poachers and traffickers.
Chief Magistrate Gladys has been saluted for fighting Wildlife crime in the region and internationally in courts which is an important role in countering wildlife crime.
Gladys Kamasanyu’s fame comes from the tough sentences she has handed notorious transnational wildlife traffickers while others judge magistrates and lawyers are particularly recognized in the areas of human rights.” she understands that the crimes committed against wildlife must be taken seriously.” Some of the workers said.
During Kamasanyu’s interval that was hosted by the International Law Enforcement Academy, she said that One of the principles in their constitution is that justice must not be delayed. And Justice must be done for all. And for me, to all means to animals as well. Much as they don’t speak to say that they are hurt, they do expect justice.
While at the interval, she asked whether wildlife feel pain when being poached and basing on a poacher that was interved about Queen Elizabeth national park confirms the fact that animals die in pain.
The poacher added saying that animals die crying like a human being… If they were talking, you would even hear the way they cry. But we don’t know their language.
Basing on a poacher’s statement, the kamasanyu Gladys finalized saying that “Animals Don’t Speak-Let Us Speak for Them,” So when she speaks by handing down heavy penalties and longer jail sentences, she is not only speaking for the animals but for humanity.
Kamasanyu Stated that It is a choice that she personally took and she want to stand out to be counted as one that did the right thing. You can’t have a tusk of an elephant, and the elephant stays alive. To get it, the elephant has to die, has to be slaughtered, a huge elephant slaughtered for only their own and insist on their own tusks.
In the early 2000s’ Uganda had registered a surge in Illegal wildlife trade and trafficking masterminded by transnational criminals. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES in 2013 ranked Uganda as one of the countries in Africa where a lot of trafficking in wildlife was taking place. The CITES secretariat then estimates illegal wildlife trade generates USD 20 billion annually.
In Africa, Uganda have observed a positive development in terms of the proportion of illegally killed elephants in comparation to other countries. The report found is that the proportion of illegally killed elephants fell by 30 per cent in other African countries whereas Uganda has had a three-fold reduction or 90 per cent since it peaked hence the effort attributed by the likes of the magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu.
The roles of Migistrate Gladys Kamasanyu towards wildlife criminals.
- Since 2016, she has been working behind the scenes or in public trying to strengthen the monitoring of wildlife crime and the prosecution of traffickers
- She is also one of the brains that led to the establishment of the Standards, Wildlife, and Utilities Court by advising the judiciary on how best the Court could operate.
- since May 2017, the court has been operating as the only specialized court in Africa where judicial officers are stationed at a court to hear cases that used not to be heard.
- She observes that with no victim, and no complainant, wildlife-related cases used to be at the bottom of the agenda of the court because the morale to have cases fast-tracked was low.
“The cases we are talking about don’t have a victim that we see, they don’t have a complainant that will come to the police to report a case that will insist and seek for justice, that will be in a courtroom to give evidence, that will be in pain and we visibly see. Usually, when the cases are reported, it will be too late, too late to save a life.” She added.
Since the establishment of The Utilities, Standards, and Wildlife Court, records from the judiciary indicate that over 2,000 wildlife-related cases have been adjudicated. One such case was concluded on Thursday when the magistrate handed warrant officer, David Okot a five million Shillings fine or a two-year jail sentence for unlawful possession of six ostrich eggs.
Kamasanyu sentenced a Congolese national Bob Mbaya Kabono to seven years in jail after finding him guilty of unlawful possession of protected wildlife species on April 2022 after observing that if nothing is done to check the crime, the country risks losing all the wildlife, which will come with all consequences of not having wildlife not only to Uganda but to the whole World.
Gladys has applied the Uganda Wildlife Act, the National Forestry and tree Planting Act and the Fisheries Act and the new National Environment Act to pass down punishments not only to poachers, wildlife traffickers, and those involved in environmental crime thus in October 2022, she sentenced Pascal Ochiba to life in prison for the illegal possession of two pieces of ivory weighing about 10 kilograms.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), and other conservation groups feel Uganda is on the right path toward ensuring justice for wildlife with the court functioning as envisaged, the presence of judicial officers like Kamasanyu, and good monitoring and prosecution of cases which magistrate ceases wildlife crimes as a challenge of not only affecting domestic wildlife but also the proble of the attire world.
Bahir Hangi, the Communication Manager at UWA said that they have made the ground too risky for people to come and think that they are going to use Uganda for wildlife trafficking. Gladys Kamasanyu is not yet satisfied especially each time she learns of an elephant tusk and pangolin scales seizures despite partly being part of this success.
She said that they have a lot of inflow of ivory, and pangolin scales even when we are not reporting deaths or carcasses of elephants in our national parks. That means that there is a lot of ivory entering Uganda.
Kamasanyu is also the founder of Help African Animals which protects animals through the legal system by raising awareness and building capacity about wildlife crime and other crimes against animals, their nature and effect, the laws protecting animals and penalties for violation of the laws.
Wildlife trafficking destroys the earth and pushes endangered species toward extinction is thriving because of the limited capacity of law enforcement, weak courts, and widespread corruption.
