Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) is a unit under UPDF which was formed by H.E the President of the Republic Of Uganda with a purpose to carryout military operations, over see and manage all fishing lakes in the Country.
The Country had lost millions and tonnes of fish on a daily basis . But because all lakes are also under the Ministry of Agriculture , Animals Industry and Fisheries, the President had started picking intelligence that a lot of powerful mafias (kawukuumi) had begun stealing and killing a lot fish from our lakes and mostly lake Victoria and others where he received closed intelligence that the lakes had lost all the fish due to illegal fishermen being used by powerful mafias within both govt and private sector and in the process Uganda couldn’t export standard fish and loss in quantities.
The Chief of Defence Forces, General Wilson Mbadi has commended the outgoing Fisheries Protection Unit Commander, Lt Col Dick Kaija for his efforts in fighting criminality on the lakes and bad fishing practice
In the process President Museveni decided to institute an independent Military Unit and named it Fish Protection Unit (FPU) and could be commanded by a UPDF senior officer and given its headquarters based in entebbe .
Formerly it was headed by Lt Col James Nuwagaba , later he was replaced by Lt Col Dick Kaija and he has been recently replaced by a no nonsense lady by names of Lt Col Addah Tukahirwa who previously worked with the elite force of the President known as SFC and later she also worked with Chieftaincy of Military intelligence (CMI) and again was taken to URA customs dept until President decided again to bring her to fight criminals destroying our fish industry on all Nation lakes.
With all her experience , she has begun with a greater achievements thru her military interventions by stopping ,warning ,sensitising and in some instances has made arrests so far which has forced many criminals to depart the lakes and fish has come back to the waters .
We have seen fishes weighing above 80 kgs being fished from the lakes and our exports which have been declining have resumed and revenue collected and people’s food in major markets and hotels plus households has increased as well .
Ugandans have praised the President for bringing touch people to command FPU and they have hopes that fish industry is going to again boom and wanainci will again taste the delicious fish species they had missed all the years .
The Fisheries sector remains the second highest foreign exchange earner for Uganda. Investment in the sector is estimated at US$ 200 million with employment of over 700,000 people.
So with equation of the Military presence on all our lakes , we have expectations that it can still go back to the rise as it used to be .
We thank the UPDF leadership which is headed by President Museveni as their Commander-in-chief for grooming these disciplined forces where they have recorded a great success wherever they have been put to command .
