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BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
ARUA: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2025
President Yoweri Museveni has directed the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja to begin engaging the local community around Lake Albert and river Nile in order to protect the fishing areas from depletion.
This follows reports that unscrupulous fishers suspected to be coming from across the Democratic Republic of Congo were conniving with rogue elements within Uganda to carry out indiscriminate fishing, thereby threatening the livelihood of the indigenous fishing community.
President Museveni in an address to Journalists in Arua on Saturday noted that the soldiers serving in the Fisheries Protection unit have been making mistakes which draws mistrust from the locals but he also added that he is aware of armed criminals challenging the patrolling units with force of arms.
“The other day the soldiers killed some people, but those were armed criminals who shot at the soldiers and the soldiers had more guns. So, I think the criminals must really stop,” said President Museveni.
Museveni said that Nabbanja should discuss with the local community how to protect the fishing industry and run the industry properly to ensure jobs and sustainable utilization.
Delving into memory, Museveni said he does not eat fish and his first encounter with fish was in 1958 during a school tour to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
“That time there was a company called Tufmac that was processing fish and that was when I saw fish firsthand,” he said.
He added that many years later when he came to lead the government, he was not aware of any other fish factory.
Then an Italian minister offered funds to build the first fish factory under the NRM at Massese and the impact was phenomenal that it was almost like Uganda had been discovered.
An era of many factories followed, leading to over fishing and steep drop in the fish stocks. There also began indiscriminate fishing of the immature fish arising to the desire to meet the overwhelming demand.
Museveni warned that with the added challenge of the climate crisis if the fish breeding grounds are not protected and managed sustainable, the country risks sinking into real crisis.
He called on the traditional leaders of the people living close to the major water bodies to protect the water fishing areas within their vicinity and also safeguard the tributaries.
The president encouraged the people to support the government move to promoted pond fish farming as a solution to eradicate over dependence on the lakes and rivers.
“I am developing a massive fish farming plan. 7,000 years ago, man domesticated cows, so, why don’t you also domesticate fish? Museveni asked the nation.
He defended the government’s decision to limit fishing licenses to few fishers, saying that it is meant to curb over fishing and protect the sensitive aquatic environment.
“If we allow the fish to be in the lake to disappear, it will cause ecological imbalance in the water bodies. So we have to be careful,” Museveni emphasized.
Museveni called on the people encroaching into the wetlands to vacate or be evicted in order to protect the underground aquifer and sources of the rivers and streams.
Museveni who has spent the week camped in West Nile expressed satisfaction that the people have come to understand the ideological grounding of the NRM.
“Initially people did not believe. They thought that we were liars like the others who came to power before us. Now they have seen the peace and developments that have taken place,” he said as he listed the different manufactured goods like sodas, cement, sugar among others to make his point.
He also pointed out that the population of the country has increased mainly due to the immunization and health policies, with resultant increase in the life expectancy from 46 years in 1986 to 68 years currently.
