By Okong’o Oduya
Monica Ochieng , 45 year old fish Monger carries fresh memories of how fish business from Busia County to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a risky venture.
She sadly narrates .”Along the way there are numbers of challenges to those who dare the ‘devil’. Crossing Uganda from Busia past Kampala, Mbarara to Ishasha in Congo requires courage and a lot of money besides having legal documents to transport and operate your business between these nations. First you need to know that along the way once your track is stopped by ‘security’ agencies or ‘officials’ from fish department from Uganda whether you are on the wrong side of the law or not you need to know that you are carry an offence and once you are stopped woe unto you! Arguing will make things worse for you , better be silent and wait for God’s intervention.”She warns.
Monica continues to narrate her sad tale . “After the arrest Start thinking of how to save yourself from the ugly hands of the law and your goods too , here the only one language that is well is understood is money. And lot of money so say.”
This is how Monica Ochieng survives as a fish monger from Busia County to DRC.Her tribulations are similar to any other fish monger who does cross border fish trade.Some time back other traders from Busia suffered in similar circumstances in hands Ugandan officials .This reminds her of an instance where she was forcefully stopped on her way to Congo by a stray bullet along Uganda DRC road at Ishasa when they were ambushed by unknown gunmen.
She recounts how on several occasions she has been stopped together with other traders in Uganda by what they believe are officers from Ugandan fisheries who are usually on a mission to confirm whether their consignment carried low weight fish. According to her the officers claim they were doing that to protect fish in Lake Victoria, reasons she says were not making sense.
“These are ways the officers use to intimidate us to give up our fish . We buy dry fish from Ethiopia and Lake Turkana packaged in bails at Busia market before we transport to Congo and there is no way these kind of fish could be from Lake Victoria where the so called officers from fish from Uganda have claims on.
She recalls two scenarios where they lost two trucks of fish worth of millions to Uganda officers. “One day as we were traversing Uganda when we were arrested and taken into custody at Kampala. We were accused of transporting undersize ‘obambla’- dry fish ,which was not true. Our efforts to save their fish were futile, we resorted to go to court in Kampala. Luckily the case was ruled to our favor and the court ordered for our release as well as our fish. Unfortunately the corrupt Ugandan officials never released our fish instead they started giving us irrelevant excuses as to why they should not release our fish. After waiting for days our fish was auctioned and we lost all the fish .”The second case they were arrested at Nakawa revenue headquarters, their fish was unpacked claiming that the fish were undersize which was not true and in the event they lost half of the lorry to the officials. According to her these were not genuine government officers. She started doubting them. They were either thugs or sacked government officers who were collaborating with senior officers in Museveni’s government to rob from them.
“I will never forget what happened to us that day before our very own eyes, the bails of fish were shared among senior government officers with order from above, that is when I started doubting if indeed these were really officers from the government,” she explained.
Monica recalls another day when they were heading to Congo around Kasese approaching queen Elizabeth Game Park, in the middle of the traverse park; they were arrested by the officers again. They were accused of engaging in illegal the business that was contributing to decrease of fish in Lake Victoria. They tried to explain to them what was happening besides showing them documents to do the business but they were not listened to instead they were threatened to be killed and their bodies be thrown away in bushes and nobody will ever know their whereabouts. They had to part with 6,000 US dollars for their freedom.
“We had no option other than giving them money for our freedom. These people are terrible, there was no single day we travelled to Congo in peace along the way we always travelled with thousands of money to bribe our way to Congo,” She noted.
To cut a long story short Monica will live to remember the day she saw death at her door step . It is a day that turned her life upside down. She recalls everything as if it happened yesterday. It was the day she was shot below the wrist from behind. The other person she was with also from Busia was shot and died on the spot. “The death of Moses Oduor a fish monger saved her life, though he died.” she admits.
It was in August 2012 on Tuesday evening after they had finished selling the last stock they had and they were heading back home. Just before they cross over the bridge to Uganda from Congo DRC at Ishasha border, they were ambushed by three armed men.
The last thing she recalls was after gaining her conscious she saw two people who she believe they were being instructed by someone. These people came for more cash she had tied on her body. She says she could not speak though she saw them. “I saw them, they aimed at the porch I had,as business people there are some cash we used to tie on our bodies taking precautions not to lose all if they were attacked. And that is the money they came for,” she explained.
Though she confirms that she didn’t know the exact amount she had , she approximate that, she lost more than 17,000 Us dollars.
She was shot at 6pm but her rescuers came at 8 pm. It took 2 hours for the intervention of united peace keeping and Red Cross officers to rush her to Mbale hospital in Uganda where she was admitted for 4 weeks before she was later transferred to Busia County Referral Hospital for 2 weeks.
After she had fully recovered she had to start from the scratch to recollect back on track. She had to go for a loan from Bank back to restock her fish. That was the only option she had to raise capital to start afresh.
Starting from zero stock was her major challenge but with time she managed to sail through her business again. She admits that the three years she has operated the business after her accident is full of challenges but she is not ready to give up. With moderate stock Monica is determined that she will come back to the stock she had before she was robbed.
Addressing Monica’s case the current Busia county commissioner Mr. Mongo Chimwaga admits that few years back traders from Kenya heading to Congo were mistreated a bit but as national leaders and Ugandan leaders had meetings and the problems were solved.
According to him, complains rose by Kenyan fish mongers were genuine and needed a quick solution. The officials from fish department from Uganda accused Kenyan business people for selling undersized fish and also accusing them of transporting tons of fish they believed to be from Lake Victoria which was not the case and that is why the community was to be involved in addressing the problem.
He noted that the officials from east Africa treaty in Arusha Tanzania, the headquarter of the east Africa community involved in addressing the problems.
He adds that, ” Every business person within the community is free to move and trade his or her goods cross borders within the community without any hindrance from anybody so long as he/she has legal documents to transact their business.”
Chimwaga however at some point blamed Kenyan fish mongers and the County government of Busia of trying to create rules as a way to force Ugandan fish traders and fish officials from Uganda to abide by their rules for them to continue working together a move he said would have created more conflict.
He instead advised both parties to trade careful with Ugandans if they wish to continue operating their business. “I had a meeting with deputy governor Busia county government Kizito wangalwa and warned him not to do what he was proposing. Because this is national problem. A problem affecting people within the community and there is no way the county government could have solved this. They had to stop and we later convene a meeting with all stake holders and the solution was found,” he said
“As we speak it is months we are yet to receive any complains rose by the fish traders over what we spoke few months ago,” He explained
