I read a story in the Social Media saying that a white woman was arrested at Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Kenya for wearing a trinket of ivory on her neck. I was very pleased that the Kenya authorities were very observant about this.
This means a great deal to us. At the time when we in Uganda are exposing our great tourism potential to the world, it is important that one of the things we must do is to save our elephants. They bring in a lot on money from tourists especially from the Western and Eastern worlds, who want to come and view these magnificent animals. If we kill them for ivory for people to wear on their wrists or necks, it will be or great loss.
We must be careful, especially of people from East Asia, particularly, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and the like who are coming here to employ poachers to kill our wildlife. Such people should be arrested on the spot.
Also to discourage anybody who wants to deal in ivory we should do like Kenya; and Tanzania, which recently imprisoned a Chinese national who had spearheaded the poaching of ivory by killing elephants in the Serengeti. It is this vigilance that will save our abundant wildlife.
