Lake Basin MPs accused of neglecting development

Legislators from the Lake Victoria basin were on Thursday criticised for their lack of interest in development matters in the region.

A member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Otieno Karan said that the MPs from the region were instead more attracted to political functions.

Mr Karan said that as representatives of the people, they needed to act as channels of information on development issues.

“We need the leaders to pass this information to the people,” he stated.

He was speaking at the Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu when he presided over the official closing ceremony of the second Lake Victoria Basin stakeholders’ forum on behalf of EALA speaker, Abdirahin Abdi.

The two-day conference that was held to discuss matters relating to management of the Lake Victoria basin, was skipped by all MPs from the region except Karachuonyo MP James Rege who attended the opening ceremony.

He said that it was important for MPs whose constituencies sit on the shores of the lake to attend such fora so that they can share discussions with their people.

“Fishermen do not even know good practices that are sustainable to the lake and the MPs should help in changing this,” he said.

However, the executive secretary of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission Dr Tom Okurut insisted that the fishers are aware of what to do for sustainable utilisation of the lake but did not adhere.

Dr Okurut said that lack of information on the lake had hampered its management and called for research in order to address this.
He added that access to information was further complicated by a poor reading culture in the region.

Mr Karan said that though East African Community was meant to be people-centred, many citizens of the region do not even know about it and even leaders lacked basic knowledge such as the contents of the treaty.

“They need to build their capacity in these issues so that when they talk about issues relating to the region they know what needs to be achieved and advise their people accordingly,” he added.

He challenged LVBC to partner with local authorities around the lake for effective management of the resource.

The civic bodies, Mr Karan argued, are important institutions in ensuring that the lake is kept clean.

He said that LVBC had a role of formulating policies and overseeing their implementation, since differences between partner states that should be undertaking this task drew them back.

Mr Karan’s criticism against local MPs comes only a few days after majority of MPs from the region kept off from a stakeholders workshop held at the same venue to discuss the privatization of government run sugar factories.