President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni will this week meet fishing communities surrounding Lake Kyoga belt in the Teso sub-region, in a bid to defuse growing tensions over alleged brutality by security forces enforcing fishing regulations.
The two-day consultations, scheduled for August 14th –15th 2025 at Soroti State Lodge, will bring together community leaders, fisherfolk representatives, and the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) led by commander Lt Col Mercy Tukahirwa.
The agenda is expected to blend crisis management with long-term policy dialogue — tackling not just enforcement grievances but also sustainable fishing and economic revitalization.
This is Museveni’s second such intervention in under a fortnight following the last weeks similar talks with Busoga’s fishing communities at Kityerera State Lodge in Mayuge District.
The back-to-back meetings will cover all the sub regions where fishing activity provides survival means to many people to address complaints that the FPU’s anti-illegal fishing operations have drifted into excessive force, eroding trust between the state and lakeshore populations.
Lake Kyoga’s fishing activities had in the past faced with use of illegal gear, and poor regulation that depleted stocks, prompting the government to deploy the UPDF’s Fisheries Protection Unit in 2017.
Museveni has repeatedly argued that strict regulation is essential to prevent the collapse of Uganda’s inland fisheries, but he has also acknowledged the need for “humane enforcement” that keeps communities onside.
While fish catches have improved in some areas, accusations of harassment, arbitrary arrests, and destruction of property have dogged the FPU’s image.
During his recent national wealth-creation tour, he promised countrywide consultations with fishing communities to find a more inclusive model for fisheries management.
For the Teso sub-region, Lake Kyoga’s fisheries underpin a small but vital segment of the rural economy, from fish traders and processors to boat builders and gear suppliers.
The Soroti meeting could feed into a broader policy recalibration, as Uganda weighs how to sustain inland fish stocks without alienating lakeshore communities.
President Museveni’s direct involvement reflects both the economic sensitivity of fisheries and the political cost of alienated rural voters ahead of the 2026 elections.
