Nkugutte: The lake people believe gives wealth
Silvestre Tumusiime aka Nyamwonyo has lived at Lake Nkugutte in Rubirizi District for 55 years. His home is about a kilometre from the lake, beneath the towering hill covered by Imaramagambo Forest.
Many call it Lake Rutoto, owing to its location in Rutoto Sub-county; and it has come to be known as such, having been gazetted by authorities as Lake Nkugutte, notwithstanding. Rutoto Trading Centre, that borders this lake, is a very small urban area only made vibrant by roadside matooke, yellow bananas, and passion fruit vendors.
The lake is tucked between Imaramagamba Forest, Omunkombe and Ryemondo hills. It is belted by Bushenyi-Kasese highway and surrounded by banana, pine and eucalyptus groves. Rutoto area is heavily populated and wooded.
The inhabitants are the Banyaruguru (the emigrants from Buganda), Banyankore, Bakiga and Banyarwanda who grow commercial trees, bananas, coffee and sugarcane.
Centre for tall tales
The lake has been associated with many myths and spiritual activities. For instance, it is believed the lake is in the shape of the map of Africa, is very deep and that it doesn’t have fish.
Another myth is that the lake has spirits that give wealth and that the water crosses the road thus, rampant road accidents near it. Many people carry out rituals on the lake.
Nyamwonyo who begun fishing on the lake since he was 10 years old has heard all the stories and also witnessed some of the bizarre incidents. In 2002, a bus belonging to SB Coaches collided with a fuel tanker at Kaziko on the southern tip of the lake.
The bus caught fire killing all the 72 people on board. This triggered the belief that the spirits in the water were responsible for the tragedy, that it was an act of sacrifice by the lake spirits.
Wealth hunters
Benon Mutabazi, the chairman Rutoto Trading Centre, says in March, he saw a man standing in the lake, partly submerged in the water speaking to someone on phone. Mutabazi had to call police to force him out.
“He had come from Sheema (District) with his wife and two children. They slept in a lodge in the town but the man left them behind and went into the water early in the morning to receive money he had been promised.
He said he had paid some people Shs6 million and expected to get more millions from the water. He was actually talking to them on phone, they were instructing him how to get it, but he was almost drowning,” says Mutabazi.
Nyamwonyo says he has seen and heard many similar incidents on the lake. “People are conning others of millions of money. The victims come from distant places,” he says.
Nyamwonyo, who is also a member of Lake Nkugutte management committee, says he gets at least one person daily beseeching him to take them to the lake for wealth even offering him handsome payments. For ignoring cries of people seeking his assistance, Nyamwonyo has been branded a selfish man.
Source of livelihood
The lake is a source of water and fish to the local community. There are about 20 boats and you can also find about 10-20 people fishing using hooks. There is tilapia and mudfish but not in big quantities, according to Nyamwonyo.
Though the lake is partly fenced and authorities prohibit any misuse, people directly bathe and wash from it, much as washing and fetching points in form of slabs are provided for.
The lake has also been reducing in size as a result of human activities of cultivation and construction. Nyamwonyo says some points where they used to throw hooks and catch fish years back are now banana plantations.
