Police marines who failed to arrest the boat captain and stop the L. Victoria tragedy on Saturday should be charged with criminal negligence. These should be charged along with the captain and all boat managers who led to the death of innocent Ugandans.
This argument has been made by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice George Kanyeihamba this morning. Prof. Kanyeihamba also argues that the transport minister should resign from office for failure to manage waters.
At least 32 revelers died when a boat on which they were partying capsized on Lake Victoria over the weekend. The boat owner Templar Bisaso and his wife died on the same boat. President Yoweri Museveni in a statement said they had faced their punishment through death.
He also ordered an immediate electronic registration and monitoring of boats on all water bodies. However, Justice Kanyeihamba calls this a postmortem decision and that such a step should have been taken earlier since deaths on lakes have been happening over the years.
“It is a postmortem decision, you must prevent. Prevention is better than cure. What the president is suggesting is a cure. We have become postmortem doctors” he says.
He further argues that this tragedy could have been avoided if the police had not been negligent. The judge also blamed the high profile people who allegedly intimidated the police into letting the killer boat go on waters well knowing it was broken. He says these should also be charged with criminal negligence.
As for the boat management, the retired judge agreed with president Museveni that they should be charged with manslaughter. He says government and police failed in their duty of keeping all Ugandans safe and for this should be charged according the law.
The former Justice Minister also says the revelers should not be blamed for drinking alcohol on the boat as this had nothing to do with the boat capsizing.