THE East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has been asked to control pollution on Lake Victoria. In a letter to the EALA, a coalition of environmental non-governmental organisation in East Africa urged the East African Parliament to play a bigger role in protecting the lake.

The Parliament will soon debate the functions of the assembly as spelt out in the Lake Victoria Commission Bill 2007.
The charity wrote to the EALA after The New Vision published a story showing that factories around Kampala were polluting Lake Victoria.

“There is empirical evidence from Uganda’s National Environment Management Authority that top polluters of Lake Victoria in Uganda are agro-related industries that create by-passes which release untreated or partially treated effluent directly into the lake,’’ said Richard Kimbowa, the head of the coalition.

“We may need to have similar probes in other cities like Kisumu or Mwanza, although we think the situation may not differ drastically from the Ugandan findings.’’

He said it was important for an impartial body to secure the social and environmental rights of the people living within the catchment area of the lake.

“We reiterate our call for EALA to legislate in favour of the Lake Victoria Commission to act as an ombudsman for Lake Victoria over and above the functions already outlined,’’ noted Kimbowa.

“This should be a core region-wide function for commission if investment aspirations are to be regulated to achieve commitment to posterity.’’

The NGOs want civil society to engage more effectively in the advocacy for pro-poor development.

The union consists of Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development, Kenya Sustainable Watch Network and Tanzania Coalition for Sustainable Development.

Over 30 million people depend on the lake that is afflicted by pollution, over-fishing, poor agriculture practices, receding forest and wetland cover and a fast-growing population.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/596268