Following the drowning of over 20 revelers who had visited several beaches in Entebbe including Aero, Lido, Spennah and sports beach during the festive season, security comprising of RDC Rose Kirabira and the police force have set tough guide lines for all beaches in Entebbe to prevent a similar incident from happening again. In a meeting that was held on Wednesday at the Entebbe Municipal council Beach owners have been tasked to do the following before their beaches can be allowed to resume business;
Install mark spots in the waters to deter swimmers from reaching the deeper ends. This will be done after auditing the floors of the lake by the Marine forces and experts.
Install spot lights to ensure that the entire beach facility is well lit to avoid dark corners.
Marine forces will deploy heavily on the waters to ensure that by 5pm all swimmers on all beaches are out of the water.
All the beach owners have been tasked to constantly make audio announcements for all swimmers to easily understand and get out of the waters by 5pm. The beach owners have been tasked to make the announcements in English, Luganda and Swahili.
All beach owners have also been tasked to have a minimum of 6 divers and life savers, life jackets and first Aid kits.
The beach owners have also been tasked to thoroughly check their revelers at the entrances before allowing them inside the beach premises. According to RDC Kirabira this will prevent wrong elements from sneaking in prohibited substances including Marijuana, opium and ‘Buveera’ (crude pints) like Waragi and popular Kitoko which are much cheaper than the drinks sold inside the beaches.
RDC Kirabira also warned Lido and Spennah beach owners to find alternative parking venues other than the road side leading to the Airport. RDC Kirabira indicated that some people travelling via the Airport miss flights due to the traffic Jam arising from the so many vehicles that park along the road leading to the Airport.
We (security) have decided to introduce tough guide lines for all beach operators and owners in Entebbe to avoid such an incident from happening again. I want to call upon the public and the beach owners to cooperate with us because we have signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure that the guide lines are put into place. We aren’t doing this in bad faith, all we want is to ensure that people’s lives are secure” RDC Kirabira stated during the meeting with the beach owners.
She added:
All those who will remain adamant and fail to cooperate with us will be dealt with accordingly. We have also requested all beach owners to avail us with monthly reports in addition to having a limit on the number of people accessing their facilities during concerts to avoid overcrowding.
Peter Gukiina Musoke the proprietor of Victoria Beach (Popularly known as Gukiina’s beach) in Kitubulu revealed that the incident is a lesson to beach owners to work together to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
I would like to send my condolence message to all families that lost their loved ones. The incident happened for the common good and we as beach owners together with government we need to constantly work together to ensure that such incidents don’t happen again. Gukiina said.
The meeting was attended by all beach owners in Entebbe, Mayor Kayanja Vincent DePaul, DPC Godfrey Ninsiima.
