Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1493466,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493466/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 307,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Temporary Speaker, thank you for this opportunity. Firstly, whatever happens in Budalangi in the form of harassment also happens in Funyula. Therefore, whatever answer he has provided touches more or less on Funyula. Hon. Temporary Speaker, we want to make it very clear that we are tired of harassment from the Uganda Defense Forces, which call themselves UDF. The amount of harassment and torture that our members go through is unbearable. As Hon. Millie Odhiambo has said, the cost to our fishermen and us Members of Parliament is now becoming unbearable. I know there have been concerted efforts between the two Governments to resolve the matter. However, it seems the level of discipline among the UDF soldiers is too low because of the bad conditions they live in. Those UDF soldiers often undertake those raids on their own without authorisation by their seniors in Uganda. They harass and arrest our fishermen so that they can get money as a form of survival because they have no means of making money. They are never paid salaries and allowances. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I must commend the County Commander and County Commissioner of Busia because they have often tried to assist. The cost of bail that is asked from Uganda is obnoxious and extremely high, and our people cannot afford it. The other strategy they use is to take those small boats, damage, destroy and burn them. It is unbearable for a poor man from Funyula or Budalangi to have spent almost Ksh30,000 or Ksh50,000 to fix a boat for survival and livelihood, and then it is damaged. It is now part of the problems enhancing poverty in our area. This time around, we hope those concerted efforts will bear fruit since I know there are massive complaints even on the Ugandan side. The other day, the Governor, a Member of Parliament (Hon Wanjala), and I were at a place called Sigulu, where we went to launch the water bus. The Ugandan Fishermen also complained bitterly of harassment by the UDF soldiers. I am aware that they indicated, to a certain extent, that they have passed some regulations in their Parliament to be given to fisheries officers, who are now going to take the soldiers out of the lake and entrust policing and monitoring to ensure that fishing regulations are adhered to. We just hope that will solve the problem. Let me conclude by saying that the fish in Lake Victoria has no passport, and it is not stamped whether it is Kenyan, Ugandan or Tanzanian. It did not come from the River Nile from wherever nor through backflow. It is fish that belongs to the people of the East African Community (EAC). Many times, the breeding is in Kenya. For example, the fish that goes to the Ugandan side breed somewhere called Sigalame, where River Sio enters Lake Victoria. They only breed and then feed in the deeper waters in Uganda. Therefore, when we follow our fish, we are not committing any offence at all. There are no demarcated borders in the lake. Consequently, you cannot tell when you are in Uganda or still in Kenya or Tanzania. The EAC, did not come about for the sake of it. It was supposed to bring unity and harmony. We continuously urge the Committee to deal with this matter conclusively because I have raised it before. The answers have been given, but nothing has happened."
}