Kenya leads two other countries to fight crime on Lake Victoria

Women traders enter the waters in wait for fishermen selling silver cyprinid commonly known as omena at Sindo beach along the shore of Lake Victoria on June 05, 2024. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

A top government official has said three countries sharing Lake Victoria have established a working group to monitor human trafficking, smuggling and other crimes on the lake.

Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omolo said the group was established two years ago to help the three countries address border insecurity and transnational organized crime on Lake Victoria following the illegal movement of people that posed a threat to security in the region.

The PS who was speaking in Mombasa on Monday said the group consisting of officers from key border agencies had made strides in such discussions on border governance institutions and regulatory frameworks.

"Our journey thus has already been marked by several significant milestones. In Kisumu, we began crucial discussions on border governance institutions and regulatory frameworks. In Entebbe we validated assessment reports and made the strategic decision to invite the East African Community to join our efforts while in Mwanza we focused on building the capacities of our border authorities through the provision of equipment and comprehensive training programs," said Omollo.

He said among the highlights include the establishment of a regional maritime rescue coordination centre for Lake Victoria.

"These centres would be crucial hubs for coordinating information sharing, rescue operations, and efforts to counter transnational crime," said Omollo.

Omollo said the group will also harmonize fishing regulations and law enforcement frameworks across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania to have a unified approach to close regulatory loopholes and encourage collective response to security matters on the lake.

He said the group had also come up with recommendations to counter transnational organized crime including the gazettement of more ports of entry and fishing landing sites

Omolo said this will help in the control of immigration of the people in the region so that those with illicit minds do not use the region as human trafficking transit points.

"Implementation of recommendations to counter transnational organized crime, including the gazettement of more ports of entry and fish landing sites are among what the group is doing," said Omollo.

The three days' seminars are being attended by the Director General Directorate of Immigration Ms Evelyn Cheluget, Uganda Assistant Commissioner of Immigration Marcellino Bwesigye, and Tanzania delegation team Ahmed Mwendadi. The others who attended are from the US led by Ms Parvathy Sankar and International Organization for Immigration IOM Sharon Dimanche.

Omollo said the three countries have been grappling with issues caused by limited coordination and collaboration between the border security.

He regretted that the trend had led to vulnerability to various border crimes which made it difficult to combat misinformation which led to conflicts between agencies.

Omollo cited a lack of joint surveillance of the lake which made it difficult to address rescue whenever there was calamity in the lake which was not good.

This lack of synchronization has left us vulnerable to cross-border crimes, hindered our ability to combat misinformation and at times led to conflict between agencies.

He said since they had recognized these critical gaps, the three countries had embarked on a three-year project to counter transnational organized crimes to strengthen the capacities of the agencies at the border to detect and deter crime on Lake Victoria.