The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, has tasked the government with explaining why there are continued killings and human rights violations within fishing communities, despite passing the Fisheries and Aquaculture Act 2022.
She made this call on May 3, 2024, during plenary session, saying that as much as the law was passed on fisheries, there is still an outcry of continuous, recurring brutal handling of fishermen on water bodies.
Her concern comes at the time when a UPDF officer, Moses Niwagira, was accused of shooting dead Charles Wanya, a fisherman operating on the shores of Lake Kyoga, recently.
“The government needs to come in and enforce the law that was passed in this House because the people who are being killed are our people; those are the same people who will vote for us tomorrow. So we need a response to that effect because it isn’t only on that island; it isn’t only in one fishing area,” Among said.
She noted that Uganda Police was given the mandate of maintaining law and order on Ugandan waters, but the UPDF maintained its presence on the lakes, despite residents near fishing communities accusing the Army of inhumane treatment and murders while fighting the fishing community.
The Government Chief Whip, Hon. Hamson Obua, said in response that the manhandling of fishermen by the Fisheries Protection Unit is not an isolated incident.
He asked for time to allow the minister in charge of fisheries to present a comprehensive statement covering all fishing communities. He also acknowledged receiving reports about human rights violations in fishing communities by the Fisheries Protection Unit.
In February 2023, H.E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni assented to the Fisheries and Aquaculture Act 2022, whose objective was to consolidate and reform the law relating to the management of fisheries, fisheries products, and aquaculture.
The current Fisheries Act, Cap. 197, emanates from the 1951 Fisheries Ordinance, which was later re-enacted as the Fish and Crocodile Act in 1964.
