This archive report was first published on 12 August 2019.
Published on August 12, 2019, a Kenyan fisherman, Rajab Daudi Ongoma, shared his harrowing experience of being arrested and tortured by Ugandan security officers in Lake Victoria.
Mr. Ongoma, a 60-year-old resident of Port Victoria, Budalang'i Constituency, was fishing in the lake with five colleagues when they were seized by men in military gear.
They were taken to Dolwe Island, where they endured 100 strokes of the cane and were left hungry in the waters for 12 hours.
According to Mr. Ongoma, the Ugandan officers told them that the punishment for engaging in illegal fishing in their waters was 100 strokes of the cane.
He recalled, "When we complained, they made us eat raw fish after which they beat us again."
Mr. Ongoma and his colleagues were later put on a Ugandan boat and taken to Budalang'i with a warning never to be seen in Uganda again "if you value your lives".
Mr. Ongoma is part of the statistics of fishermen who have been brutalised by Ugandan security officials.
They are whipped, made to eat raw fish, their boats seized, and forced to pay hefty fines while some spend weeks or months in filthy police cells.
Mr. Sylvester Ouro, a fisherman from Sisenye, has been detained by Ugandans twice for using an illegal boat.
According to him, Ugandan officers insist on a 48ft boat, "which [is] very expensive in terms of purchase and maintenance compared to the 28ft canoes most Kenyans own".
Another requirement is size nine hooks, which are meant to catch big fish.
Mr. Ouro added that by being whipped and made to eat raw fish, the officers said they were doing him a favour.
Busia County Beach Management Units Network chairman Sylvester Kaywa asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to come to the aid of the more than 26,000 fishermen spread across the 20 beaches.
"Many of the fishermen have been rendered jobless. Kenyans have become hostages in their own country. Fishermen say the government has abandoned them," Mr. Kaywa said.
