Kahwa was first arrested last week on Friday evening for obstructing district officials from inspecting the lake’s buffer zone and detained at Mukono Police Division headquarters following a standoff with Deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Hassan Kasibante.
According to the Assistant Resident District Commissioner, Moses Kizito Buule, the suspects' names are being withheld for security reasons. The suspects are being held at Buvuma Police Station and will soon be taken to court for prosecution.
Ramathan Kawere, a resident of Bugala Main Island in Bujumba sub-county, says that the populations traveling on the lake for various reasons face heavy risks of death in case an accident occurs because the district lacks rapid means to respond to incidents.
Betty Mutimbu, a resident, recalls a harrowing incident on May 20, 2024, when her husband, Livingstone Kitimbo, was attacked and killed by a crocodile right before her eyes while setting fishing nets.
The Entebbe facility is designed to promote export-led investment by offering duty exemptions, making Uganda's exports more competitive in international markets.
The official handover took place at Masese landing site on Monday, where Southern Division Mayor Nasser Ashiraf received the donation during an engagement with UPDF officers.
The boat, which was reportedly overloaded with a nonspecified number of people broke into two pieces and capsized shortly before docking at Zinga Island in Buvuma District last evening.
The boat ambulance was provided to largely evacuate patients from the Islands of Kisiima I, Kisiima II, Rwabitooke and other small islands scattered along parts of Lake Victoria in Jinja district. The boat will also support rescue operations of fishermen and other water transport users in Lake Victoria and River Nile respectively.
Ruto Chepchumba, the Busia county commissioner, says that the suspects will undergo full trial under the Kenyan law on fisheries, adding that they will serve as an example to their colleagues who have become perennial trespassers into Ugandan waters.
The dealers normally store the illegal fishing nets in their homes and sell them off to clients, most of whom in the end act as their agents within the remote landing sites across different lakes within the country.
Rashid Kasaajja, the Bukagabo landing site chairperson, says that much as the Fisheries Protection Unit-FPU personnel have labored to sensitize fishermen on the disadvantages of using illegal fishing gear, which contribute to the increase of fatal accidents across the lake, most of them have remained adamant.
Hassan Latif, a water safety coach attached to Masdar says that Busoga sub-region is still grappling with the challenge of managing drowning cases due to overloading of passenger boats and use of illegal boats during fishing activities.
Philemon Kudeera, the coordinator of the project, says that his colleagues were sensitized on the merits of the project and have since embraced it. He says that the construction of such a facility will boost safety sensitization drives across the Lake Victoria shoreline in Jinja and the surrounding areas.
Each State is required to pay annual subscription fees of USD 485,000. The funds facilitate studies that guide countries on how best to preserve the different Lake Victoria species from extinction. The member states include Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi.
“A big boat together with the engine costs about Shillings 3.5 million and most of the fishermen who cannot afford such continue to use small boats well aware that, their lives are at risk more so during this rainy season,” he said.
