President Yoweri Museveni has promised to remove the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) from the water bodies and hand over the administration of fishing communities to the elders.

“In the month of May, I want you the people who are near the lakes to guide me, to get the elders of this area; they should be the ones to tell us who is spoiling the lakes so that the army can go away and the people themselves look after the lakes.

The minister for Northern Uganda can coordinate them;- the ones from this side, Nakasongola side and Busoga side, we shall have a conference and then we can remove the soldiers from the lakes,” Museveni said.

The President who is also the National Chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) made the remarks on Tuesday 19th March, 2024 at Amatiburu Primary School in Kangai Sub County, Dokolo district as he campaigned for Janet Adongo Rose Elau, the party’s flag bearer for Dokolo District Woman Parliamentary seat by-election.

The FPU under the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) was established in 2017 in a bid to curb illegal fishing and streamline the fisheries sector.

In the meantime, the President called upon the people to report soldiers who are extorting money from fishermen so that they are disciplined.

“If you have evidence about soldiers who are extorting money, bring the evidence and we arrest them. We don’t have to wait until the handover. People need to be assisted to do proper fishing,” President Museveni noted, but further expressed suspicion of those against him meeting the elders first, saying they are enemies of Uganda.

“And the ones who are saying that I should just take away the soldiers, I’m a bit suspicious of you because why don’t you want a proper handover? You have admitted that there was immature fishing because of the problems which you had. That’s why I was forced to bring in soldiers.

The issue of alleged extortion by the army on the fishing communities had earlier been raised by Felix Okot Ogong, the Member of Parliament for Dokolo South, as one of the many challenges that needed urgent intervention because it was greatly affecting the support of the NRM party.