EAC to take action over frequent Lake Victoria maritime disasters

The East African Community (EAC), through its body responsible for Lake Victoria, said the intervention was necessary to save lives.

Only a fortnight ago, 14 worshippers - mostly children -died in Bunda district, Mara region when a boat they were travelling in capsized due to strong winds.

A day later, about 20 fishermen perished on the Uganda side. Both accidents were attributed to overloading and bad weather.

Africa's largest lake has witnessed many such disasters, claiming lives of hundreds near the shores of the three riparian states.

Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), an institution of the EAC, estimates that close to 5,000 lives are lost each year in the vast lake.

"We cannot stand aside and look as the innocent lives of our people are lost without taking measures,” said Dr Masinde Bwire, LVBC executive secretary.

He stated this in Bunda early this week when he visited the area to condole the bereaved families and explain the requisite measures being taken to improve safety.

He said the organization will soon construct rescue centres within the 69,000 square kilometre lake to assist in rescue operations.

The facilities, to be put up in each of the three countries' waters, will cost a whopping $24.7 million (approximately Sh60 billion).

Also earmarked is putting in place a state-of-art communication tower to facilitate rescue operations in case of life-threatening maritime accidents.

Rescue operations are to be undertaken jointly by the three riparian states since the electronic distress signals will be shared in all rescue centres.

According to Dr Bwire, plans were underway to buy new speed boats fitted with medical aids for rescue purposes.

"The rescue teams will be on alert for 24 hours,” he said as he donated 40 life jackets to villagers living on the shore of Lake Victoria in Bunda district.

Mchigondo village in Bunda was on July 30th plunged into mourning when two boats carrying 28 worshippers capsized, killing 14 with 14 others rescued.

Many of the deceased were aged 13 and eleven of them were young learners at Bulomba primary school in the same district.

Receiving the donation, Mara Regional Commissioner Saidi Mtanda lauded the EAC institution, saying the Tanzania government plans to purchase speed boats for rescue operations.

He said the government was aware of the challenges facing the fishermen and travellers in Lake Victoria and would cooperate with other players to contain the maritime disasters.

Concerns on the safety in Lake Victoria have been on the rise in recent years even as a regional legislation crafted for the same has remained idle.

The Lake Victoria Transport Act 2007, initiated by the EAC, has largely remained unpopular because member countries in the bloc favour their national laws instead.

The legislation was enacted 16 years ago to regulate maritime safety in the shared lake which is also the largest water body in Africa.

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

A recent sitting of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) was told that the partner states in the riparian states tend to favour their national maritime laws.

Lake Victoria, Africa's largest and world's second largest freshwater lake has been prone to some of the worst maritime accidents for years.

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

Drawbacks to address the same include poor accident reporting and investigations reporting as well as the regulations relating to the Compulsory Insurance for the third party Liabilities.

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".