Environmental and climate justice groups have called on the government to ensure that newly proposed lake landing site committees are genuinely community-led, transparent and accountable, warning that cosmetic reforms will not address long-standing abuses faced by fishing communities.
The call follows President Yoweri Museveni’s December 26 directive to dissolve what he described as “abusive” lake landing site committees and establish new management structures.
The directive also proposed disbanding the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU), which has for years been accused of rights violations against fisherfolk. Fishing remains central to the culture, food security and livelihoods of millions of Ugandans living around Lakes Victoria, Albert and Kyoga, vital ecosystems that directly employ more than 1.3 million people across fishing and fish value chains.
An estimated seven million Ugandans depend on the lakes for daily sustenance, while the sector remains a major source of foreign exchange. However, activists say fishing communities continue to face environmental degradation, market instability and human rights abuses, particularly in regions affected by large-scale oil and gas exploration and drilling.
In a joint statement, Climate Rights International and the Environment Governance Institute (EGI) said abuses linked to oil developments operated by TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) have compounded long-standing governance failures around lake management.
“We welcome the government’s announcement to disband the Fisheries Protection Unit and all landing site committees on Uganda’s lakes,” said Samuel Okulony, director of the Environment Governance Institute.
“But this must result in an end to abuses and genuine community-led decision-making, or it will amount to nothing more than a pre-election stunt.” Okulony added that the new committees should be constituted quickly and inclusively.
“To demonstrate seriousness, the new committees should be formed within 15 days, not three months,” he said.
Oil projects and rights concerns
In October 2025, Climate Rights International and EGI published a report documenting how communities living around the Kingfisher oil project area along Lake Albert were subjected to military-enforced payments to access fishing grounds, arbitrary arrests, and confiscation of boats for alleged non-compliance.
