EAC states turn ‘blind eye' on Lake Victoria transport law

Arusha. The Lake Victoria Transport Act, 2007, enacted years ago to regulate maritime safety in the shared water body, is stuck on the rocks.

It has lost favour with the riparian states which, instead, consider their respective national maritime laws more relevant.

Moreover, a host of key regulations required for full implementation of the regional legislation, are reportedly not in place.

"The law is not fully implemented,” insisted a report tabled before a recent sitting of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).

Instead of the legislation enacted in 2007, the riparian states tend to favour their national laws "instead of this law".

This is the second time in a week of reported failure by the East African Community (EAC) partner states to embrace the regional laws. It was revealed last week that Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya have declined to align their national laws with the EAC Anti-Counterfeit Bill, adopted since 2013.

The report on Lake Victoria Transport Act was tabled by the House Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources during a session held in Bujumbura.

This was part of the oversight activity on the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) and the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO). Under the EAC Treaty, once a Community law is enacted, it becomes binding to partner states and takes precedence over similar national laws.

However, the Committee noted that this has not been the case with the Lake Victoria Transport Act, 2007. During their visits to the riparian countries Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya sharing the lake, members of the Committee had a different story. "The Committee was informed that the implementation of this legislation is under the Maritime Administrations of the partner states,” the report said.

The 69,000 square km water body is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, the founder members of the EAC.

It is a source of livelihood for millions of people in the three countries, contributing about $400 million worth of fisheries for domestic consumption export.

Lake Victoria, Africa's largest and world's second largest freshwater lake is, however, prone to some of the worst accidents.

Notable among these are the capsising of MV Bukoba in May 1996 and MV Nyerere vessels in September 2018 which claimed nearly 1,000 and 130 lives respectively.

Marine security threats in Lake Victoria also include illegal fishing, theft of fish cages, pirates, and poor port infrastructures and landing sites.

Observers, however, believe lack of regulations needed to implement the regional maritime law was to blame for the drawback.

These include regulations on registration and licensing of vessels, the ship and port facility security regulations and regulations to prevent oil pollution.

Others are accident reporting and investigations reporting as well as the regulations relating to the Compulsory Insurance for the third party Liabilities.

Members of the Committee maintain that maritime safety and security remain a challenge in the Lake Victoria basin.

Even the donor-supported implementation of the Multinational Lake Victoria Maritime Communications and Transport (MLVMCT) projects was not on the schedule.

This is due to, among others, failure by the EAC partner states to pay contributions needed "to attract support from development partners".