President William Ruto says he will launch a rescue centre in Kisumu on Friday, which will help save lives during accidents as fisher folks in the lakeside city go about their activities.
Speaking in Kisumu during a town hall meeting Thursday night, the President regretted that too many lives are lost in Lake Victoria whenever fishing boats capsize.
“We lose close to 5,000 people in Lake Victoria every year because of the kind of gears they are using, the boasts they are using [and] the capsizing that takes place,” he said.
“As an East African region, we are going to be launching tomorrow a rescue centre that will have all the necessary facilities including farther down the road a chopper than rescue people who have accidents in Lake Victoria,” Ruto added.
The President said if fishing is made safer, it can encourage more people to engage in economic activity and help Kenya unlock her full potential in blue economy and spur annual returns from the current Sh20 billion to Sh100 billion by reducing the number of people who die in the lake.
Ruto said such interventions are important not just for the economy but for the country’s food security and human capital growth.
He defended the government's decision to ban fish imports last year saying it was all geared towards ensuring the local fishing industry is protected from competition to spur its growth.
“A few people made noise at me that why I was banning fish from other countries. It is the right thing to do because we can develop our own food in Kenya. As you know, we are importing many things, and things we can grow in Kenya among them fish,” Ruto said.
"We spend Sh500 billion every year to import food into Kenya. We import rice, sugar, maize, and edible oil."
The President was on Thursday on the second day of his four-day tour of Nyanza counties of Migori, Kisumu, Siaya and Homa Bay which will end on Saturday.
Ruto was received by ecstatic crowds in every town he has visited so far.
