Army beats fishermen to coma over illegal fishing

Mr Aggrey Awori who was allegedly beaten by the army, lying on the mat at his home in Kigungu. Photo by Eve Muganga

What you need to know:

  • The Deputy Mayor of Entebbe Municipality condemned the act by the army urging them to always arrest the suspects and charge them in courts of law instead of beating them.

Two fishermen operating at Mayanzi Landing Site in Kigungu sub-ward in Entebbe Municipality were recently beaten into coma by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces’ (UPDF) Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) over illegal fishing.

Mr Aggrey Awori and Mr Alex Abitegeka both fishermen at Mayanzi landing site in Kigungu were beaten by the army accusing them over illegal fishing.

According to Mr Awori whom this reporter found at his home in Kigungu with his hands and legs visibly injured, said: “Two army men only identified as Musiitwa and Vicent attacked us at an island called Lwamunyu at around 5pm on Thursday, they started beating us with wooden sticks without allowing us to give any explanation to them.”

“There was no reason for them to beat us to the extent of breaking our hands and legs because the fish we had in the boat was of the reasonable size, their aim was to take our fish and Engine because after leaving us in a pool of blood they took off with them (fish and engine),” Mr Awori added.

He called upon the government to intervene because they don’t have money for medication and what to feed their families.

“The President should explain to us if he is the one who gave these soldiers excessive powers to beat us to the extent of nearly killing us, they left their task and are now stealing our fish and boats, we want these soldiers to be brought book,” Mr Awori said.

Mr Abitegeka who was also badly beaten said that: “I had to call the chairman because my colleague was already in coma, he was bleeding so much and our boat had started to take different directions but thank God the chairman responded in time and rescued us.”

The Deputy Mayor of Entebbe Municipality condemned the act by the army urging them to always arrest the suspects and charge them in courts of law instead of beating them.

“As leaders we condemn what the army did, I don’t know who Lt. Col Nuwagaba and his men call themselves? If at all they caught them in Illegal fishing as they claim, why didn’t they arrest them and take them to police instead of beating them, and why did they steal fish and the engine?” he said.

The fishermen claim that once the soldiers take the fish and engines, they don’t use them as exhibits, but rather sell then off for their personal gains.

However when contacted the army's head of the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU), Lt Col James Nuwagaba, refuted the allegations.

“I am not aware of anything because I haven’t been around but I am going to investigate the matter and find out the truth,” he said.