Capt. Simon Tibaijuka is the notorious commander of the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) in charge of Mukono district whom the residents and the local leaders have pinned on enormous human rights violations which he committed together with his juniors in the name of fighting illegal fishing on Lake Victoria.
Capt. Simon is said to have caused a number of fishermen’s death, tortured others, confiscated people’s fishing materials, transporting elements including motorcycles and vehicles, fishing engines, among others during his routine operations both on the lake and on the mainland.
Joseph Monday Kimbugwe, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) chairperson for Mpatta sub-county reports that Capt. Simon only pardoned those who would give him colossal sums of money and pin the poor who had nothing to offer to him in the form of bribes.
“We got fed up with him when we realized that the same illegal fishing materials he captured, his men also used them for fishing. He also sold immature fish he would confiscate from the locals,” Kimbugwe said.
His reign was however cut short on the day his juniors chased a fisherman for more than 30 kilometers from the landing site to Mukono town as he (the fisherman) was suspected of transporting immature fish.
It is alleged that as the transporter reached Mukono town, the armed FPU officers started firing live bullets, hitting an innocent person to death.
Though the leaders had made several reports pinning Capt. Simon and his juniors about his wrong doings for years without a notable response from his bosses, upon getting this kind of report, the head of Fisheries Protection Unit in Uganda, Lt. Col. Mercy Adah Tukahirwa terminated his stay in Mukono making an immediate reshuffle.
Recalling Capt. Simon from Mukono is said to have given breathing space to many, including the local people, fishing communities, local leaders, among others.
Mukono Resident District Commissioner, Hajat Fatuma Ndisaba Nabitaka introduced Capt. Simon’s replacement, Capt. Frank Akandwanaho in a security meeting she convened at Katosi landing site in Katosi Town Council, Mukono district.
The meeting was attended by a number of leaders including, Mukono South Member of Parliament, Fred Kayondo, Mukono district chairperson, Rev. Dr. Peter Bakaluba Mukasa, the district NRM chairperson, Hajji Twahir Ssebaggala, the DISO, sub-county chairpersons, local community, among others.
Lawrence Kiyingi, the Koome sub-county chairperson has shown dismay saying that the NRM government has lost popularity in his county as a result of abuses and theft subjected to the local people by the FPU team in the name of fighting illegal fishing.
“To make matters worse, after making our people extremely poor, FPU officers who are enormously gained wealth from the lake have started breaking people’s families by seducing their wives who cannot deny them given the fact that they have money,” Kiyingi said adding; something must be done before it’s too late.
Fred Gonja, the Katosi Town Council NRM chairperson said that Capt. Simon had lost trust in the rest of the other institutions like the court at Ntenjeru and Katosi Police whereby he would no longer work with officers from there even when he arrested suspects from those areas.
“Whenever Simon arrested suspects from Katosi, Ntenjeru, Mpunge and Mpatta, he made them board his boat and transport them up to Koome police leaving behind police cells at Katosi and a court at Ntenjeru,” he said.
He added: “What made matters worse, at night, Capt. Simon would make the suspects go to prison and put on prison uniforms in order to be kept there until Thursday when the Magistrate got to Koome to convene a court there. We regarded that as a human rights violation, how could suspects go to prison before passing through court!”
Hajji Ssebaggala, the district NRM chairperson pleaded for President Museveni saying that the wrongs done by the people he appointed to do work on behalf of the government should not make the locals annoyed and wait to punish him during the election time.
“Thank God your cries have been heard and responded to. Capt. Simon is no more and we have fresh blood in the names of Capt. Frank Akandwanaho. Let’s just caution him to avoid the mistakes committed by Capt. Simon,” he said.
Mukono South MP, Kayondo said that he had done almost everything to advocate for the local fishermen who always ran to him whenever Capt. Simon would error them but he had proved to be so adamant and untouchable.
“I brought the committee of Parliament, the State Minister for Fisheries among other big shots of government in whom I thought we would get relief but in vain,” he said.
The district chairperson Bakaluba said that the UPDF’s fisheries illegal fishing fighters wherever they are have accumulated a lot of wealth at the expense of the local fishing communities that are so poor.
Bakaluba added that though fishing used to be a lucrative venture that boosted thousands of people’s wealth, it is these days benefiting a limited number.
Capt. Akandwanaho however vowed to work with the local leaders as he conducts his operations. He also asked the fishermen and those dealing in fish to avoid illegal fishing if they want to enjoy the business in harmony.
RDC Ndisaba asked the new FPU commander in charge of Mukono district, Capt. Frank Akandwanaho to consider releasing people’s confiscated property more so that which was never presented to courts of law as exhibits.
She also banned the habit of chasing the so-called transporters of immature fish from one sub-county to another saying it has been a source of accidents that have injured many and led to other people’s death.
