L. Victoria accident: Relatives, security clash over dead bodies

A pandemonium broke out yesterday at Kasenyi Landing Site in Entebbe when relatives attempted to block police from taking bodies of drowned victims for autopsy in Kampala, some 40 kilometres away.

At least twenty passengers reportedly perished on Lake Victoria mid-last week after an overloaded boat transporting them from Kalangala District to Kasenyi capsized in rough waters at night.

Majority of the deceased did not wear life jackets and the boat was overloaded, according to findings of preliminary inquiries, prompting Works minister, Gen Katumba Wamala, to renew government directive that all travellers on water must have the buoyancy jackets.

Police and army marine personnel, backed by volunteer fishermen, have so far retrieved fourteen corpses, three of those recovered yesterday.

A fracas that lasted for about an hour then broke out at about 10:30am when security forces elected to move the dead bodies to the City Mortuary in Mulago, Kampala, farther away from the lake shore where relatives were waiting for them for fifth day.

Anti-riot police deployed swiftly to rein in, stemming a potential physical confrontation in the wake of an emotional meltdown and claims that security was taking possession of the bodies in order to extort money from unsuspecting families under the guise of postmortem.

Law enforcers cordoned off the area where the recovered bodies had been temporarily placed and shortly afterwards loaded them onto a police pick-up truck that sped to Kampala.

The charged relatives and friends, some of who have camped at Kasenyi Landing Site since last Wednesday, demanded that the remains of their loved ones be turned over to them for burial since the cause of their deaths were clear. They argued that conducting postmortem was needless and an unnecessary expense, arguing that it would additionally delay burial yet they have been feeding mourners for days already without help from the government.

“We very well know what killed our people and we see no reason of conveying the bodies to Mulago. The postmortem they are talking is for what?” Ms Jenifer Mukisa, a friend to Melida Wasemba who perished in the boat tragedy said as she charged at anti-riot police.

On his part, Mr Mustapha Kakeeto, a relative to another victim posthumously identified as Grace Nakato, said:

“Where are they (police) taking [bodies of] our people? Family members have since Wednesday been holding vigil at our village home waiting for the burial, [the] government has not helped us in anyway and they are keeping us waiting for more days.”

Mr Kakeeto claimed that a colleague was charged up to Shs400,000 to pick a body of one of the drown victims from the City morgue in Mulago, money he said they did not have and did not need to spend that way. Mr David Nuwamanya, the principal administrator of Mulago National Referral Hospital, yesterday absolved the institution of any liability, saying that whereas the City Mortuary is their neighbour, it falls under the jurisdiction of City Hall.

“It is the police chief pathologist at the City Mortuary who can help you with full information regarding those bodies,” he said.

Dr Moses Byaruhanga, the Uganda Police Force director for health services, last evening said they were handing back bodies after every autopsy without charging claimants any fee.

“I challenge them to come and show me those people who asked for money. If they are part of our staff, they will definitely be sacked. Our services at the mortuary are free,” he said.

Himself a pathologist, Dr Byaruhanga said they had handed out all the recovered bodies, except those brought to the morgue on Sunday and yesterday.

Earlier, Mr Kakeeto accused some of the marine officers involved in recovery of missing bodies of soliciting money from them as distraught relatives, ostensibly to buy fuel.

The Commander of the Police Marine Unit, SCP Ubaldo Bamunoba, however dismissed the allegation as unfounded. “Those are false allegations with no iota of truth. All our officers on this operation are using our boats which have enough fuel. In fact, it is us who are giving individual fishermen fuel who are volunteering to join the search,” he said.

Violent waves on the weekend turned one of the marine boats on the recovery mission upside down, but all officers on board survived. 

In his rejoinder, SCP Bamunoba said relatives of individuals who died in the Wednesday mishap had become impatient, with some demanding to join the joint security marine team in locating missing bodies of their loved ones.

“Those who were trying to undermine our work were calmed down and later appreciated the work we are doing amid a myriad of challenges on the lake,” he said.

SCP Bamunoba, without explaining the reason, said that all bodies retrieved from the lake have to be subjected to autopsy examinations before being handed over to relatives. “For all the bodies which have been identified, we advise relatives to follow them [to] Mulago. So, I am not aware that … relatives have to pay money [before picking the bodies],” he said.

Background

At least 3,500 Ugandans across 74 districts have drowned over a two and half-year period, according to a 2021 report by Makerere University School of Public Health. This translates into 1,400 cases per year. Dr Frederick Oporia, a water transport safety expert at the School said available data shows that in lakeside fishing communities, «Uganda has the world’s highest drowning death rate of 502 per 100,000 cases. During the World Drowning Day commemoration at Kaazi National Scouts camping ground ,Wakiso District on July 25 ,State Minister for Water Aisha said  government was looking for Shs25b to implement the National Water Safety Strategic Plan for drowning prevention across the country.

Compiled by Ivan Walunyolo, Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa & Malik F. Jjingo