Sh9b funding to save lake lands on toothless ministry

SAVE LAKE VICTORIA         POLLUTION

In 2014, New Vision ran a campaign aimed at saving Lake Victoria. Several measures were taken to save the lake. Many plans were developed; some implemented, while others just remained on paper.

Six years later, the lake faces extinction at the hands of human activities which include pollution and degradation. New Vision brings you the stories that were published then.

A random survey on the different landing sites and fish stalls in the different market areas including in the city has one thing in common - immature fish - an indication that illegal fishing still goes on in our lakes unabated.

"The question is how this fish ends up on the market, which is not just in rural areas but even urban centres," wonders Richard Kimbowa of Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development.

Just recently, the resident district commissioner of Namayingo, Samuel Mpimbaza Hashaka was reported blaming Beach Management Units and fisheries officials for being actively involved in illegal fishing.

However, all these were supposed to end with the release of the sh9.2b finance ministry announced in the last budget after a two-month campaign to Save Lake Victoria by Vision Group.

During the campaign, underfunding was highlighted as the key challenge towards the enforcement of fishing regulations and standards and this was seen as a much-awaited boost. During the budget speech, finance minister, Maria Kiwanuka announced an sh9.2b allocation to strengthen the fisheries department, particularly to enforce fishing regulations and standards on main water bodies especially Lake Victoria.

While finance Permanent Secretary, Keith Muhakanizi says the money was revised down to sh7.3b and up to 97% had been released to the Fisheries Resources Department. The money was disbursed in four tranches as follows: sh1.626b in the first quarter of the financial year; sh1.661b in the second quarter and sh1.334b and sh1.074b in the third and fourth quarters respectively.

However, there is very little to show for the releases. Instead, sh2b was immediately used to settle subscription arrears and contribution to international bodies to which Uganda is a signatory, according to the Commissioner for Fisheries Resources Department, Jackson Wadanya.

Wadanya admits not much was done in direct response to enforcement since their efforts were hampered by a lack of personnel. "For the last three years, we have been trying to get the police to be a part of our team to no success. As a Fisheries department, we can not do Mature tilapia being auctioned at a landing site.

Despite efforts to halt overfishing, the practice has continued to grow owing to the limited personnel attached to us," he adds. He says they currently have just 15 staff members of which only five are directly involved in enforcement work.

Wadanya says they have applied for about 150 police officers who will be sourced from those already available in the fishing areas with their lead commander sitting at the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters. He, however, adds that an operational framework has been developed for the agricultural policy and by the end of June, they should be operating.

Wadanya says the other challenge was the prolonged procurement processes that have stalled certain activities and this may necessitate taking back some money to the treasury since it was not absorbed.

In a report of the half-year performance of the sector, some of the highlights of the key outputs include procurement of 11,650 fishing boat identification marks, accomplished consultative meetings with fisheries stakeholders, distributed authority cards to fisheries officers in Lake Albert and Lake Victoria, conducted enforcement towards licensing compliance on Lake Victoria and Lake Albert and trained two officers in fisheries enforcement in Namibia.

There was also procurement of three search patrol boats, repair, and servicing of two patrols boats, payment to Uganda Communications Commission's annual frequency fee undertaken, procured authority cards for authorised officers.

But by the time we contacted the finance ministry with just 21 days to the budget reading of 2014/2015, the reports on output for the third and fourth quarters were still not yet submitted.

Just as we tried to investigate the impact, the resident district commissioner of Namayingo, Samuel Mpimbaza Hashaka, was recently quoted blaming Beach Management Units and fisheries officials for being actively involved in illegal fishing. He said these have unauthorized fishing gears and go on to encourage fishermen to use them.

It is, however, shocking that when asked why such reports continue to appear in media, an official from the ministry who preferred anonymity argued that some times their hands are tied. He added that all they can do is propose ideas that never see the light of day.

What others say Abdul Majid Kyaye, the chairperson Beach Management Unit, Buvuma He says the last time he heard about sensitisation and training from the ministry was way back in 2008 and over the years they just struggle to do what they are supposed to do.

"It is quite absurd that sometimes you have to sell off your chicken so as to get fuel to do inspections on the lake. If there was such kind of money, couldn't they have at least allocated some to us," he asks.

Kyaye adds that many of his colleagues have given up duty because after everything, they go back home empty-handed yet they have families. The district fisheries officer, Buvuma, Abdul Majid Nakwaki, notes that though they have registered some success in the past year, this cannot be attributed to the sh9b because the district has not received any money towards enforcement from the agriculture ministry.

"We currently rely on the local government budget and some locally generated resources," he says. Richard Kimbowa of Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development, There is nothing to show for the sh9b because apparently things have remained the same.

"How do you explain the existence of immature fish on the market and this is not just in rural areas but in urban centres too, how did it get there in the first place. We have tilapia tending towards mukene," he notes.

He adds that if it is true that they actually held sensitisations and training, the question one would ask is whether they actually went ahead to draft a work plan on the implementation measures or whether these meetings were not an end in themselves.

"We need to move away to these so-called meetings and workshops and come up with measures that will engage the entire community and this is what I expected this money to do," he argues.

He goes on to dispel the idea of agriculture police saying it is not a sustainable idea other than just increasing budgets in which money is hardly available.