- Other countries have struggled to convince Cairo to review the approach so that a more open and inclusive use of the resources in the basin are used through a transboundary project management intervention.
- The 13 counties from the Like Victoria Regional Economic block will be big beneficiaries once the framework cooperation agreement are done.
Image: FILE
Mistrust, emotional attachment and what appears extreme nationalism by countries in the Nile Basin will continue denying the inhabitants access to the benefits of this God-given resource.
Residents will continue facing challenges including those associated with adverse effects of climate change because of unending hydro diplomacy wars within the capitals in the region.
Cairo and Khartoum have been the most extreme in their approach to the access, control and use the Nile basin resources, to the detriment of the process of ensuring peaceful transboundary cooperation and development of the region.
Huge multi-billion projects are going on across the borders with very promising results for the residents, including power projects, water dams, climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions that have big economic potential and wealth creation for the region more than the continued national suspicion and narrow national view currently prevailing.
The water disagreements are rooted in the Nile Water Treaty of 1929, which gave Egypt the right to veto upstream projects it thought could interfere with the flow of the Nile, which stretches more than 6,600km from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean Sea.
Other countries have struggled to convince Cairo to review the approach so that a more open and inclusive use of the resources in the basin are used through a transboundary project management intervention.
Given the poverty in the region and the much-needed joint approach to improve the livelihoods in the region, countries in the basin signed the 2010 Cooperative Framework Agreement that allows development of projects along the Nile without approval from Egypt.
Under the framework, it was envisaged that the River Nile Basin Commission shall be established to act as a forum for cooperation and a clearinghouse for the planned measures that could cause any harm to other riparian states.
The Nile Basin Initiative has been working around the clock as a platform of the country’s discussion for peace and sustainable use of the water resources in the region, to have the framework signed, to accelerate development of the region. There is a need to minimise these tensions and allow the residents benefit from the resources.
The reluctance to sign the agreement by some countries including Kenya seem to indicate that they are not appreciating the role that the advantages that come with good cross-border relations and development.
The Regional Coordinator for the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Plan (NELSAP) Dr Eng Isaac Alukwe in a recent conversation note that he hopes the remaining bottlenecks will be overcome and the remaining countries sign the cooperation framework, to establish the commission, which will elevate the development of the basin, through the political goodwill.
Alukwe noted that once established, it will guide and promote integrated management, sustainable development, and harmonious utilisation of the water resources of the Nile Basin, as well as their conservation and protection for the benefit of present and future generations.
“It will be very instrumental in ensuring that national projects in the regions including dealing with the use of the water resources are well coordinated to minimise conflicts and promote transboundary relations in the region, which is a more strategic approach to attracting partner support, and community benefit than the current situation,” he said.
The Commission shall serve as an institutional framework for cooperation among the Nile Basin States in the use, development, protection, conservation and management of the Nile River Basin and its waters.
Upon the entry into force of this Framework, the Commission shall succeed to all rights, obligations and assets of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI).
The Nile River Basin Commission shall maintain regular contact, and shall cooperate closely, with any sub-basin organisation or arrangement. Each Nile Basin State shall establish or designate a National Nile Focal Point Institution and notify the Commission thereof. The Agreement has dispute settlement provisions.
As a case study, he gave the example of the Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project located at the Rusumo Falls at the Tanzania and Rwanda border, that once completed will be shared equally among Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
The 80 MW power plant will supply power to Gitega in Burundi, Kigali in Rwanda, and Nyakanazi in Tanzania as part of a transboundary program to support sustainable management of the Kagera River Basin and support wealth creation in the area.
Hopefully, Kenya will see reason in signing the framework agreement soon, so that we change the situation of people in the Lake Victoria basin, which currently has one of the highest poverty rates globally.
The 13 counties from the Like Victoria Regional Economic block will be big beneficiaries of the transboundary development support from partners, once this political goodwill from the national government, through appending their signature to the framework cooperation agreement are done.
Among projects identified include water, power, blue economy, climate change adaptation projects among others.