President Yoweri K. Museveni’s latest ploy to “sensitize” the fishing community is nothing but a vile cover-up for the ruthless terror his Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) has unleashed upon Uganda’s water bodies. This so-called plan, dressed up as a push for “sustainable fisheries,” is a transparent attempt to gloss over the barbaric atrocities committed by these rogue soldiers.
The FPU, ostensibly deployed to safeguard fish stocks, has become infamous for its savage brutality, rampant corruption, and relentless human rights abuses. From Lake Albert to the Nile, these soldiers have turned peaceful fishing communities into war zones, extorting money, seizing boats, and mercilessly beating civilians. Museveni’s weak admission that these soldiers are now “making their own mistake” is a gross understatement that spits in the face of the countless victims who have suffered under this military occupation.
Museveni’s cowardly tactic of blaming the fishing community for the depletion of fish stocks is a disgusting display of victim-blaming at its worst. The real culprits behind the decline of Uganda’s fisheries are the corrupt government officials and the unchecked greed of commercial fishing interests, all protected under the very regime that now seeks to scapegoat the powerless. The introduction of the FPU in 2017 was nothing more than a militaristic crackdown, a heavy-handed response to a problem that demanded intelligence and community collaboration—not brute force.
The president’s farcical suggestion of holding a conference with fishing elders is an insult to those who have been ignored, oppressed, and brutalized for years. This so-called conference is a hollow gesture, a pathetic attempt to pacify a population that has been systematically abused by the very regime that now pretends to seek their input. The idea that soldiers will only be withdrawn after “sensitizing” the community is a chilling reminder of Museveni’s utter disregard for the suffering of ordinary Ugandans.
Fishing communities have endured unimaginable hardship under Museveni’s tyrannical policies. It’s high time the government stopped hiding behind the false narrative of sustainability and confronted the real issues destroying Uganda’s fisheries: deep-rooted corruption, gross mismanagement, and the militarization of civilian life. Until then, Museveni’s promises remain nothing more than hollow words, a deceitful mask covering the brutal reality faced by those who dare to live and work along Uganda’s water bodies.
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