Five Kenyans have sued the Ugandan government for allegedly failing to control floods around the shores of Lake Victoria, resulting in displacement of people and damage to their property.
Former president of the Law Society of Kenya, Isaac Okero, and four others are accusing Uganda of violating their fundamental human rights by breaching the EAC Treaty and the Nile Basin Comprehensive Framework Agreement on how much water Kampala is supposed to release from Lake Victoria.
They have enjoined the East African Community (EAC) and the Lake Victoria Basin Commission in the suit, while Kenya and Tanzania governments are named as interested parties.
“As citizens of Kenya, who reside in Kisumu and are owners of real property located within the vicinity of the shores of the Lake, we have been greatly inconvenienced by the decision by Uganda,” says Mr Okero in the court filings. “As applicants we plead for the prayers and orders that Uganda is responsible for the compensation of loss and/or damage suffered by the applicants.
Order that loss and/or damage suffered by the applicants assessed by the court are paid by Uganda.” The five say that Uganda’s breach has caused flooding that has damaged property and displaced more than 50,000 people around the Lake. They accuse Eskom Uganda Ltd, the biggest hydro electricity generating company in the country, of increasing or reducing the volumes of water flowing from the lake based on how much is needed to meet Uganda’s electricity demand. They say the Owen Falls dam, now known as Nalubaale Dam, was built in 1954 as part of a hydropower station in Jinja after Uganda and Egypt signed agreements that the East African country would not do anything to interfere with the flow of the Nile, the world’s longest river.
Credit: www.monitor.co.ug
