MV Templar tragedy: What became of recommendations?

KAMPALA - Even after the tragic incident of the unlicensed MV Templar which capsized on November 24, 2018, and leftover 30 Ugandans dead, the Government is yet to undertake sufficient measures to guarantee the safety and proper regulation of Uganda's water transport.

According to the latest Auditor General's report, there are hardly any safeguard measures that the government has instituted to safeguard the lives of Ugandans who use water bodies.

Investigations established that over 59% of the boats operating on Uganda's lakes are unlicensed and therefore are endangering the lives of Ugandans.

The Auditor General (John Muwanga) noted that the public concerns on measures that need to be undertaken to minimize accidents on Uganda's inland water transport have not been addressed.

"The water transport subsector remained inadequately regulated. To enhance safe and reliable transport in the water subsector, it is important that the enactment of the Inland Water Transport Bill into law is fast-tracked, and an enabling working/operational environment is put in place," Muwanga suggests.

Asked why the ministry is yet to undertake adequate measures to improve the safety of water transport, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Transport, Waiswa Bageya, said the major problem failing them to do the needful is underfunding.

"The resources the Maritime Department is allocated are not enough. In the third-quarter release, it has been given only sh42m. We wanted to undertake a comprehensive survey and enumeration of the vessels on our water bodies but we were only able to do so in some few landing sites on Lake Victoria. We need adequate resources to cover the whole of Lake Victoria and other water bodies," Bageya explained.

Buvuma County MP Robert Migadde noted with concerns that all the recommendations he had given to Parliament in November 2018 after the MV Templar accident have not been implemented.

Migadde proposed the need for government to introduce tug boats which can tow out vessels that are stuck as it is in Kenya and Tanzania, exempting life jackets and other safety equipment from taxes, examining life jackets to weed out fake ones, inspecting vessels to establish their worthiness for transport, establishing rescue centers with fast boats on water bodies, and improving communication on water bodies. 

Kioga County MP Anthony Okello said: "I come from and around water bodies but I have not yet seen any measures by the government to improve the safety of water transport. It is unfortunate that the government has not taken keen interest to seriously invest in developing the water transport yet it has the potential to enhance the economic growth of the country."