The angry villagers allegedly beat up rangers and set the forest on fire
Residents from various villages located in the Lwamgasa Ward of Geita Region have staged mass protests marching towards the nearby protected forest reserve where they beat up rangers, injuring three of them.
The furious villagers have also burnt down a good portion of the protected Lwamgasa Forest Reserve in the district, claiming harassment from the wardens.
As far as to the villagers are concerned, of late there have been a series of inhumane acts inflicted onto them by the forest wardens.
The rangers are being accused of attacking people, extorting money, molesting children and women and confiscating property from local residents under claims that they were trespassing into the conservancy.
They also claimed that whenever the women or girls from nearby villagers entered the forest to collect dried twigs for firewood the rangers would either beat them up or molest them sexually.
“We have lost herds of cattle and other livestock to these rangers,” shouted the irate villagers before storming into the rangers’ post, dragging out the wardens and proceeding to ‘punish them.’
Reports from Geita say at least three wardens were badly injured when angry groups of people attacked their base on the Friday afternoon of August 15, 2025.
But the villagers were not yet done.
They entered the reserved area and set fire onto the forest.
By the time this was being posted online, at least 200 hectares of the Lwamgasa forest were blazing under huge flames of raging fire.
Authorities in Geita District and Region are yet to make an official statement regarding the incident.