Museveni returns Fisheries Bill to Parliament
A man displays fish that he bought from fishermen as a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldier looks on at Namugongo Landing site in Mayuge District in 2019. PHOTO/DENIS EDEMA
What you need to know:
- Mr Museveni wants Clause 13 of the Bill to include UPDF on the Fisheries Monitoring Control and Surveillance Unit established under the Directorate of Fisheries Resources.
President Museveni has returned the Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill, 2021 to Parliament, proposing that the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) be allowed to join the police on the surveillance team to fight illegal fishing on the country’s major water bodies.
The army’s involvement was one of the suggestions that the President made before Parliament first passed the Bill on May 3.
Mr Museveni wants Clause 13 of the Bill to include UPDF on the Fisheries Monitoring Control and Surveillance Unit established under the Directorate of Fisheries Resources.
The President also wants Parliament to review Clause 4, which defines the licensing officer as the chief licensing officer.
“The surveillance unit organisation command control and training need to be domiciled under the UPDF and Uganda Police Force given the sophisticated ways employed by people involved in illegal fishing,” Speaker of Parliament Anita Among said in reference to Mr Museveni’s letter during plenary yesterday. Consequently, she directed the House committee on Agriculture to expeditiously align the changes and report back to Parliament in one week.
The Bill seeks to repeal the colonial Fish Act of 1951—amended in 2011 to bring regulation of the industry up to-date with current challenges.
These include addressing excessive fishing pressure, growth in illicit fish trade, destructive fish malpractices, increasing local fish demand, and decreasing per capita fish consumption. The proposed law also seeks to regulate aquaculture.
However, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Mathias Mpuuga, wondered why the President keeps returning Bills.
“Returning Bill after Bill is an indictment on the front bench. I would like to invite the front bench to rise to the occasion so that we don’t do this work over and over. We need the Executive to do its work,” Mr Mpuuga said.
However, the State Minister for Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, Mr David Bahati, defended the bench, saying: “For the Leader of Opposition [in Parliament] to suggest that when the President returns the Bill, it is the Executive/front bench not doing their work, he needs to crosscheck those facts.”
