Buikwe — The fishing community in Buikwe District has faulted the Uganda Wild Life Authority (UWA) for neglecting the plight of residents threatened by crocodiles.
The crocodiles have reportedly killed six people from different parts of the district in a period of only two months.
The residents say four people have been killed by reptiles at Lukonda Landing Site in Ngogwe Sub-county and another two at Kigaya Landing Site in Najja Sub-county on the shores of the Lake Victoria have been killed by crocodiles.
Daily Monitor visited the two landing sites on Tuesday as the fishermen narrated their ordeal.
Mr Stuart Mutebi, a fisherman at Kigaya Landing Site, said they can no longer access the lake because of the deadly crocodiles.
"We no longer bathe, fish or get water from the lake because the crocodiles hav killed our people," Mr Mutebi said during an interview on Tuesday.
He urged the government to intervene because the they do not know how to trap the crocodiles.
"There has been public outcry over crocodiles eating people, but UWA officials have not helped us .Let them intervene because we are mere fishermen who lack experience in trapping crocodiles," he added
Mr Majid Lule, a fisherman at Kigaya Landing Site, said they could have tried to trap the crocodiles but they are not authorised to do so.
"We are not allowed to trap crocodiles yet they kill our people. Some human body parts are found after some days of search in the nearby bushes. In the latest incident, we only buried dismembered body parts of the victim," Mr Male said. Ms Madinah Nakimaka, 21, the wife of Elfansi Mwanda, and a resident of Lukonda Landing Site in Ngogwe Sub-county, said her husband had gone fishing when he was killed by a crocodile.
Sensitisation
"It was around 6am someone called me that my husband is making an alarm and that it seems the crocodile has attacked him. We looked for him the entire day in vain until the following day when we found his body parts in the bush," Ms Nakimaka, said
Ms Jane Francis Kagayi, the Buikwe Resident District commissioner, said the fishing community should be sensitised by UWA about the deadly crocodiles.
"Our people need to be sensitised to be cautious, UWA should also research to find out whether these landing sites have many crocodiles so that they can be gazzetted," Mr Kagayi said. Mr Mathias Kigongo, the Buikwe District chairperson, said recently they called experts from UWA to trap the crocodiles but they failed to trace any.
"The Uganda Wild Life Authority has been slow in responding to the threats. When they came, they did not get any crocodiles, but a day after they had left, they killed another person. We want to write to the line ministry to find the easiest way of helping our people, especially those near the lake," Mr Kigongo said.
The UWA communications manager, Mr Bashir Hangi, said local leaders in Buikwe have not formally complained to the authority.
"Sometime they [local leaders]do not actually approach us, but you need to appreciate that people are on the lake shores and therefore crocodile attacks are unavoidable," he said.
Mr Hangi said the authority will soon dispatch its standby problem animal staff to trap the reptiles.
Over the years, UWA has advised local leaders in areas where crocodiles torment residents to build barriers and water tanks so as to avoid people moving closer to rivers or lakes to fetch water since they are major death traps.
Background
On August 7, Daily Monitor published a story that highlighted the plight of Namayingo residents deserting their homes due to continuous attacks by crocodiles. The residents raised the red flag as the crocodiles had invaded their homes and gardens in search of food. Others attacked them as they crossed over to the river to draw water.
On August 10, President Museveni ordered all stakeholders to prevail over the situation. He asked UWA to relocate crocodiles to Murchison Falls National Park. The authority working together with other stakeholders embarked on the hunt for man-eating crocodiles on the shores of Lake Victoria on Bukhooli Island in Namayingo District. The captured crocodile weighed about 800 kilograms and was about five metres long. It was estimated to be between 45 and 50 years old.
Records
Statistics from Namayingo District indicate that close to 300 people have been attacked and some killed by the crocodiles in the last 10 years. Majority are estimated to have been killed in the villages of Dolwe, Sigulu, Lubango and Mulwanda.
