MP wants lake boundaries abolished to end disputes

Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda and DP William Ruto at a past event. [File, Standard]

An MP has petitioned the East African Legislative Assembly to remove boundaries in Lake Victoria.

The legislator for Bondo, Gideon Ochanda, said he had filed a petition with the assembly's speaker, Martin Ngoga from Rwanda, so that the motion could be discussed by the MPs for possible ratification.

The legislator claimed that in the spirit of regional integration, it was illogical to limit the usage of natural resources that member states of the East African Community share.

"We cannot say that we are committed to regional integration and yet we still fight and put limits to usage of resources that can help fast-track our unity," Mr Ochanda said

Among the highlights of the petition is the demand that Lake Victoria be recognised as an international water body bound by international agreements.

"We want Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, who share the lake, to set aside about 10 nautical miles from their shorelines as buffer zones," the MP told The Standard.

This would mean that the countries that share the lake would only claim the 10 nautical miles while the rest would become international waters.

Kenya has only a 6 per cent share of the lake against Uganda's 43 per cent and Tanzania's 51 per cent.

Official boundaries

Most fishermen do not know where official boundaries lie, causing frequent run-ins with security patrols.

"There is no visible boundary in the lake. That is why we want to have borderless fishing," said Ochanda.