This archive report was first published on 18 November 2019.
Published on November 18, 2019, a group of Nyanza leaders has urged the government to reject the 1929 Nile Treaty, citing its restrictive nature on access to Lake Victoria waters.
The MPs, including Martin Owino (Ndhiwa), Olago Aluoch (Kisumu West), Gedion Ochanda (Bondo), and Shakeel Shabbir (Kisumu East), described the treaty as 'draconian' during a meeting in Kisumu on Saturday.
According to the lawmakers, the treaty signed between Egypt and Great Britain in 1929 effectively gives Egypt the right to veto projects that could affect its share of the Nile waters, limiting Kenya's access to the lake.
"There is no way we can have such a large water mass in our midst and yet we can't harness its massive potential," said Mr Owino.
The MPs asked Fisheries Principal Secretary Japheth Ntiba to initiate a diplomatic process to convince other African countries, signatories to the treaty, to re-examine its impact on development.
"We want you to start a diplomatic process of convincing the Nile member countries of the need to revoke this treaty," said Mr Olago.
The lawmakers emphasized that if the government is serious about promoting the Blue Economy, it must unlock the lake's untapped resources.
"We can't have the lake here and just be looking at it without doing any serious economic activity in it. That defies the essence of the blue economy," said Ochanda.
