Uganda has only 8 marine inspectors

Different rescue groups searching for the bodies of the people who perished on Lake Victoria on Saturday. (Photo by Ponsiano Nsimbi)

TRAGEDY

MUKONO - The Government has only eight technical people in the Maritime department under the Ministry of Works and Transport who are supposed to carry out technical inspection of the various boats and other vessels on all the water bodies in the country.

Henry Ategeka, the principal marine officer for the ministry, told New Vision yesterday that they are overwhelmed by the work of inspection of vessels on the water bodies because they are few.

"We frequently carry out inspection. Unfortunately, we are only eight people for the whole country. We are thin on the ground. We had planned to recruit about 80 people, but we were unable to do so because we were not allocated enough money in the budget," Ategeka stated.

Asked whether they have a register of all the vessels and boats on the water bodies, including the total number, Ategeka said: "We have not yet found out the boats and vessels on our water bodies."

Asked whether the boat which capsized was registered, Ategeka said it had never been registered and inspected.

"That boat was on our wanted list. We have been looking for it. We wanted to inspect it. Unfortunately, the accident happened before we could inspect it," he explained.

According to George Rukara, the commissioner for maritime administration in the transport ministry, the vessel has been illegally operating.

"The public should be careful because for us, as enforcement, we cannot be everywhere. By virtue of the state in which the vessel was, it was not fit for transport.

Anybody of sound mind could easily tell that this vessel was putting them in danger," Rukara stated.

Speaking to New Vision on Sunday, the Minister for Works and Transport, Monica Ntege Azuba, who first extended her condolences to the bereaved family, said whereas all the boats and vessels are supposed to be licensed and inspected, not all of them have been inspected.

The minister revealed that about two weeks ago, they embarked on an exercise of registering all the boats and vessels on the water bodies and that they had started with Ggaba landing site.

Azuba also noted that an inter-ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda was on Sunday created to investigate the accident and come up with measures for ensuring that such avoidable accidents do not happen again on the country's water bodies.

On what immediate measures the ministry intends to undertake to regulate water transport, the minister said they would soon launch an operation to look for all boats and vessels and weed out those that are operating illegally.

The minister also explained that the maritime department is a newly established, that it is only two years old and, therefore, still undergoing development.

Other measures in the pipeline, the minister said, include a plan to establish 12 rescue centres which will have emergency ambulance boats, sensitise the people and release alerts on the weather conditions on the water bodies.

The ministry has already secured a loan for implementing this project. Rubanda West MP Eng. Denis Sabiiti Bamwoya, who is a former chairman of the parliamentary committee on physical infrastructure, admonished the Government for not giving priority to the water transport sub-sector.

"The reasons we are having these problems is because the Government has not significantly invested in water transport.

It is a neglected area. Marine inspection, regulation, laws and policies are hardly enforced.

There are many boats and vessels operating illegally on our water bodies," Bamwoya said.

The shadow minister for works and transport, William Nzoghu, who is also the Busongora North MP, castigated the Government for the tragedy, arguing it would not have happened if the Government was doing what it is supposed to do for water transport.

"I send my condolences to the bereaved families and to the entire country for the tragedy of the boat that capsized. I have witnessed systems and governments of various countries, but I think ours is the worst.

Explaining that there are various communities that live on the islands and other Ugandans who use water transport, Nzoghu emphasized the need for government to undertake measures for safeguarding the lives of Ugandans who use water transport.

"Just as there is a committed traffic Police and inspection arrangements for vehicles on the roads, there must be a similar arrangement for water transport to ensure every boat and vessel is fit to safely transport people," he said.