By John Ogulei, TNNSere
A police officer has been killed while several others, including an Officer in Charge (OC) of Olagara police station, sustained injuries following a violent confrontation between security personnel and residents in Kateta Sub County, Serere District.
The deceased has been identified as Etirain Charles, a resident of Oburin Parish, Kateta Sub County, who was attached to Olagara Police Station.
Etirain was recently recruited into the Uganda Police Force and had been deployed as a police constable in the ongoing national elections.
According to local authorities, the fatal incident occurred last night in Nananga Parish, Kateta Sub County, during a controversial operation to recover impounded illegal fishing gear.
The LCIII Chairperson of Kateta Sub County Amos Ochola, while speaking to TNN-Online, narrated that the roots of the incident date back to early last year, when fishermen operating in Nananga landing site reached a community agreement to suspend the use of illegal fishing gears in a bid to protect Lake Kyoga and sustain fish stocks.
However, he said fishermen from neighboring Nakabale and Pingire landing sites allegedly defied the agreement and continued crossing into Nananga waters using illegal fishing equipment.
“Following the agreement, fishermen from Pingire were arrested after being found using illegal fishing gears in Nananga waters. They were later released, but their fishing gears were impounded by the Nananga community, and the matter was officially reported to Kateta Police Station,” the LCIII explained.
The local leader expressed concern over what he described as a procedural lapse, saying it remains unclear why the OC of Olagara Police Station reportedly moved to recover the illegal fishing gears without notifying key local and security authorities, including the LCIII office, GISO, OC Kateta Police Station, District Police Commander (DPC) Serere, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), and other relevant stakeholders.
He noted that the recovery operation was carried out late in the evening, a factor that may have fueled suspicion among residents.
“The people of Nananga may have mistaken the officers to be police from Pingire who had come to forcefully recover the illegal fishing gears. The timing of the operation caused panic and confusion,” he said.
According to preliminary accounts, a confrontation erupted shortly after the police team arrived.
During the chaos, officers reportedly fired live bullets, injuring several people, including fellow officers and crime preventers who were accompanying them.
The injured officer has been identified as Ochana, alongside several unnamed crime preventers who sustained varying degrees of injuries. They were rushed to nearby health facilities for treatment.
The LCIII Chairperson further revealed that after the officers allegedly ran out of ammunition, an angry crowd surrounded them, resulting in mob violence that left Constable Etirain fatally injured.
“This was a very unfortunate escalation. When the bullets got finished, the crowd overpowered the officers and beat them. That is how one officer lost his life,” he said.
The body of the deceased officer has since been transported to Serere District Hospital Mortuary, where it awaits a postmortem examination as investigations continue.
Security agencies have launched inquiries into the incident to establish the exact circumstances that led to the death of the officer and the injuries sustained by others.
Police are also expected to investigate allegations of excessive force, the decision-making process behind the operation, and the role of local disputes over illegal fishing practices.
The incident has once again highlighted the tensions surrounding illegal fishing enforcement on Lake Kyoga and the need for better collaboration between security agencies, local governments, and fishing communities to prevent loss of life.
This article was first published by TNN
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