Families of missing people camp at Kasenyi Landing site

Ms Jamirah Namwanje Kalyango, Councilor Kazo Cell Angola in Kawempe is one of the people camped at Kasenyi awaiting the body of her missing mother, Prossy Namulondo.

“I last heard from my mother a week before the tragedy. She called me asking me to visit her, and I was planning to see her within this week because she had told me she was coming back from the Island where she had gone to sell her merchandise. She has been a hawker,’’ Ms Namwanje said.

She said she received a phone call from someone who picked up her mother’s bag which had her phone. The caller told Ms Namwanje that her mother was among those who died in the boat accident.

“I kept on trying to call on her phone to confirm whether it was really true, but in vain. Since Wednesday, we are here but her body hasn’t been retrieved.” Ms Namwanje told Monitor on August 5.

Relatives of Moses Ssimbwa, 25, a resident of Nabugabo in Masaka District also turned up at Kasenyi Landing site. “This is our third day here, but we haven’t received support in any way. We are sleeping on empty stomachs, yet there is no indication of any search going on. We haven’t seen any government official here apart from leaders of the National Unity Platform who visited and assisted us with some support.”

“Since Wednesday we have camped here to wait for the body of my In-law who was the boat operator. When we heard the sad news we started making calls until it was confirmed that he was among those who didn’t survive,’’ said Ms Maria Gorreti Nalubega, Woman Councilor Kikajjo Central Masajja Division.  

She urged the government through the Ministry of Works and Transport to engage more in search and rescue efforts to help them find bodies of their missing relatives.

Mr Ronald Bogere, the Chairperson Kasenyi Landing site said, “We have started to mobilize funds to make sure that fishermen start the search. It's now three days but we have only retrieved three bodies, and now they said they have retrieved two but we haven’t seen anybody here at the landing site.”

NUP leaders led by the Party General Secretary, David Lewis Rubongoya, Entebbe Municipality Member of Parliament, Micheal Kakembo and Busiro South MP Charles Matovu with other leaders met families of the victims at Kasenyi landing site and supported them with food, cups, saucepans and cash worth Shs1,000,000 million to help them during the tragedy.

“I am surprised that it's been three days since these people camped here but no government official has checked on them. It is raining, they have nowhere to sleep and have nothing to eat. I appeal to the government to quickly intervene and join the search for bodies of missing people.” Said Rubongoya.

At least 20 people are feared dead after a passenger boat they were traveling in capsized on Lake Victoria in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The boat, locally known as Kinaala, was transporting passengers and cargo from Lwanabatya landing site in Kyamuswa County, Kalangala District to Kasenyi landing site in Katabi Town Council in Wakiso District.