Fishermen and fish dealers in districts of Buikwe, Buvuma and Mukono appeal for changes mainly on charges, penalties and licenses in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill, 2021.
Fishermen told the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries that the new bill is intended to eliminate low income earners from the lake since it did not take into consideration what they can afford to pay as charges in case they are caught at the wrong side of the law.
Fishermen claim they don’t intend to commit crimes but several times enforcement officers have imposed crimes they have not committed on them and end up suffering penalties while they are innocent.
The Insight Post has established that the least penalty listed in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill, 2021, starts from 1, 000 currency point stretching to 100, 000. According to the bill, each currency point is equivalent to 20, 000 shillings.
For instance, once the bill is turned into an act, a person who conspires with another person to contravene any of the provisions of the Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five thousand currency points or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both.
This means such a person pays Shillings 20million or risk imprisonment of five years or serve both punishments.
A person who commits a second or subsequent offence is liable to pay an additional penalty.
Once an individual pays fifty thousand currency points or imprisonment not exceeding ten years. 50, 000 currency points translates into Shillings 1billion.
In case it is a corporate entity, a fine does not exceed hundred thousand currency points which translates into Shillings 2 billion.
Stanly Wadimba, a fisherman at Buvuma says the bill was poorly drafted and aimed at amplifying brutality of people depending on the lake.
He wonders why fishermen found on the lake with an expired license are arrested, detained and charged before court at the same time their boat grounded, while penalties are not given to road users.
“I hear on the road drivers are only given tickets and told to pay, they are not beaten like we are treated on the lake. The government should be clear to us that we are not Ugandans.” Wadimba says.
The bill also prohibits sharing of license among boat operators; a fisherman is licensed to fish one type of fish, not all that he comes across.
Where there is a change of ownership of the vessel during the valid period of the fishing vessel license, the person to whom the license was issued shall surrender the license to the Chief Fisheries Officer, who shall cancel the license and the new owner shall apply for a license under the Act.
Lydia Namuswe, a silver fish dealer, says the bill should need to be reworked or dropped; it does not address the size of fishing gear, number of people to operate a fishing boat as stipulating proper channels of storing fish.
“The challenge is that lawmakers know nothing about what they are drafting; they have not done thorough research but are busy drafting the bill for us.” Namuswe says.
Among other changes recommended by fishermen to be reworked in the bill include reducing the powers of fisheries officers and the minister on approving and cancelling licenses, allowing local governments to gazette landing sites, stopping the army from carrying out monitoring roles and this responsibility be handled by marine police.
The Chairperson of Buikwe, Jimmy Kanaabi and Adrian Ddungu of Buvuma equally believe the licensing procedures for fishermen, dealers and storage is poorly handled.
The bill vests powers into the minister for fisheries and fisheries officers to decide the time frame for the licenses so long as it does not exceed one year.
The Parliamentary Committee Chairperson, Janet Okorimoi assures the fishing community that changes are going to be made in regard to their views.
English 