Mutima Boat Victims an Embarrassment – Tamale Mirundi

Written by: 
Cosmas Ssegirinnya

 

As the nation is still in shock and mourning several citizens who lost lives in a capsized boat near Mutima beach in Mukono, presidential advisor on media, Tamale Mirundi has called the victims of the accident an embarrassment.

According to Mirundi, the country has been befallen with great shame having very important people travelling on a vessel in such a bad state. "How can a prince and prominent businessmen travel on a boat still under repair,” he said, while appearing on a local radio station.

"Big men drunk with very young girls on a boat and you say we need to mourn with grief!", he said, emphasizing that the captain of the boat forewarned the crew that the liner was not balancing but they could not listen because they were drunk.

Mirundi added "this could have been a business rivalry or terrorism," because boats always must have lights and rescue boats in case of danger but this one had neither.

Mirundi also blames the crew and says that the captain should be imprisoned for negligence. "This was total negligence because the marine warned those drunkards and they insisted. They are to blame for their death," Tamale said.

However, some Ugandans have criticized Mirundi's harshness especially to the dead saying that death has specific time and no one knows when or how they will die.

Joseph Mutebi, a resident of Nansana says that the sailors should not be to blame like Mirundi says. "These people did not make the boat and they were not in charge of its repair," he added.

According to Joy Kusaasira, there is nothing wrong having fun once in a while. She says all the people who were aboard the boat were adults. "All we need to do is to pray for the departed souls but not judge them," she said.

The government declared Friday the 30th November, 2018 as a national mourning day for lives lost in the accident.

It is almost two weeks now since the boat that was allegedly carrying over a hundred and twenty people capsized near Mutima beach in Mukono. The accident claimed over thirty lives. Several survived but the accident has left many unanswered questions on what exactly happened and how it could have been prevented.

Courtesy Photo