Following the Saturday evening accident in which a boat carrying 120 resellers sank the waters of Lake Victoria, President Yoweri Museveni has issued a directive to have all boats electronically registered and monitored.
This measure, according to the President will help in identifying the vessel’s location at all times for emergency responses.
“According to preliminary information from the security services, this, apparently, was a private, unregistered, unlicensed and maybe uninsured boat. The government has ordered the electronic registration and monitoring of all the boats so that we can know who is where on the lake and why,” Museveni wrote in a statement released on Sunday afternoon.
The seemingly angry Museveni sounded cheated to learn that both owners of the boat – a one Templa Bissase and his wife died in the accident as he wanted them to face charges of criminal negligence and manslaughter.
“It seems the boat was overloaded because whereas it had capacity for 50 people only, it had about 120 passengers on board. Obviously, the operators of this boat will be charged with criminal negligence and manslaughter, if they have not already been punished for their mistake by dying in the accident,” the president added.
Museveni hailed the Police and the UPDF for the rescue efforts that have so far saved 26 people and recovered 30 bodies and cautioned Ugandans to ensure that they have the necessary protective gear before hitting the waters.
“The five times I crossed in small boats or canoes some of the lakes of East Africa, I found them very dangerous to cross when you are not fully prepared; no overloading, standby engines, life jackets, reliable navigation etc etc. Let everybody take the warning from this tragedy,” he urged.