Kenya wants the East Africa Community to come up with a solution that will stop persistent harassment of fishermen in Lake Victoria, Cabinet Secretary for Mining, Fisheries and Blue Economy, Salim Mvurya has said.
Mvurya says that already, the cabinet has discussed the question of cross border insecurity that has seen local fishermen suffer persecution at the hands of security agents from neighbouring countries who even detain and confiscate their boats and catch.
The Cabinet Secretary was speaking at Asembo in Rarieda sub county, Siaya when he, together with his ICT and Digital Economy counterpart, Eliud Owalo met beach management unit officials from the Lake Victoria region. The officials were drawn from Busia, Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay and Migori counties.
Mvurya said that the government will form a multi-agency team that will help address the matter with neighbouring countries that share the Lake Victoria waters.
He said that his ministry was committed to having fish landing sites turned into the first point of value addition for the catch, adding that plans were underway to construct cooling facilities.
The CS further said that the ministry was working with the ministry of lands to secure title deeds for the landing sites so as to wade off greedy land grabbers.
Addressing the occasion, Owalo said the government will do everything possible to create an enabling environment for the fishermen.
Owalo said that his ministry will establish digital laboratories in all beach units to enable fishermen to get adequate ICT skills.
This, he added, will enable them to market their products on line.
“The world has changed and you need not interact with your customer physically” he told the BMU leaders.
Owalo thanked the government for its commitment to spend Sh. 4 billion on construction of Kabonyo fisheries training institute in Kisumu County.
He said that the Blue economy has a lot of potential in the region, adding that within the Nyanza region development plan, it is a stand-alone thematic area that the Kenya Kwanza government wants to enable the fishermen around Lake Victoria to exploit their full potential.
The national chairman of the Beach Management Units, Tom Guda who addressed the meeting lamented that security agents of the neighbouring countries were using flimsy reasons to harass Kenyan fishermen and called for government intervention.
“Some of their activities are not backed by law” he said, adding that a number of Kenyan fishermen have been arrested for using solar lamps while on Omena fishing expeditions while others were arrested for allegedly carrying ice boxes to preserve their catch while fishing.
The occasion was also attended by the Siaya county commissioner, Jim Njoka, the chairman of the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) Jack Ranguma and former Kisumu senator, Fred Outa among others.
By Philip Onyango
