Members of Parliament representing islands and other fishing communities have petitioned the House agriculture committee against proposals to legalise Uganda People’s Defence Force operations on the water bodies.

Appearing before the committee on Friday, November 12, to give their views on the Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill, the MPs who were led by Buvuma Islands County MP Robert Migadde, told the committee that if enforcement operations are to be carried out, it should be Uganda Police Force whose constitutional mandate is to keep law and order.

The legislators gave accounts of appalling acts of torture, murder, extortion and confiscation of people’s property which they said have invalidated any claims for deploying UPDF on Uganda’s water bodies.

The MPs proposed to the committee that wherever ‘UPDF’ appears in the Bill, the committee should replace it with ‘Uganda Police Force’.

Migadde said they are opposed to clause 36 of the Bill which limits the number of people allowed to carry out fishing in an area.

“This, if passed as it is, will close many Ugandans out of fishing. The natural resources of water bodies should be available to all Ugandans,” he said.

On clause 37 which gives powers to the chief fisheries officer to close a landing site, the MPs proposed that if such a scenario arises, other activities at such a landing site, other than fishing should be allowed to continue.

The MPs opposed the penalty of 1,000 currency points (sh20m) as a punishment for smoking fish without permission and proposed to the committee that it be reduced to 250 currency points (sh5m).

The MPs, who mostly represent islands, also opposed clause 103 of the Bill which states that the Government confiscate the property of a person involved in illegal activities if he/ she fails to appear to answer.

The legislators argued that this could be used to confiscate properties of the fishing communities.

Arguing that those who carry out sand mining encroach on the breeding areas for the fish, the MPs proposed to add a clause on sand mining to the Bill. 

Regarding the controversial remarks of the fish processors and exporters who suggested the need to ban the local consumption of Nile perch since it fetches lots of foreign exchange for the country, Migadde said: “We distance ourselves from the proposal of banning the local consumption of the Nile perch. The intention is to make the factory the only delivery point for Nile perch so as to exploit our people who are now free to sell the Nile perch anywhere. We strongly condemn it.”

The representatives of fishing communities also suggested that the Government put in place a fund for helping fishing communities acquire fishing gear and boats of the required standard the way the Government gives farmers inputs under Operation Wealth Creation.

Appearing before the committee recently, defence minister Vincent Ssempijja and top UPDF generals proposed to the committee the need to include clauses which would put law enforcement on the lakes in the hands of the UPDF.

The minister proposed to the committee to amend clause 8 (1) of the Bill to require the technical head of the Fisheries Directorate to have a military background.

“Get your army legally involved and maintain sanity and keep your resources. If the aquaculture and fisheries sectors are well developed, they will earn us billions of dollars,” Ssempijja said.