Five Kenyans take Uganda to court over rising water level of Lake Victoria
Five Kenyans have taken the government of Uganda to court for allegedly failing to control floods around the shores of Lake Victoria.
Led by Isaac Okero, the former president of the Law Society of Kenya, they accuse Uganda of breaching the EAC Treaty and the Nile Basin Comprehensive Framework Agreement on how much water it is supposed to release from Lake Victoria.
“As citizens of Kenya, who reside in Kisumu and are owners of real property located within the vicinity of the shores of the Lake, we have been greatly inconvenienced by the decision by Uganda,” says Okero in the court filings. “As applicants we plead for the prayers and orders that Uganda is responsible for the compensation of loss and/or damage suffered by the applicants. Order that loss and/or damage suffered by the applicants assessed by the court are paid by Uganda.”
The five say that Uganda’s breach has caused flooding that has damaged property and displaced more than 50,000 people around the lake.
They accuse Eskom Uganda Ltd, the biggest hydro electricity generating company in the country, of increasing or reducing the volumes of water flowing from the lake based on how much is needed to meet Uganda’s electricity demand.
They claim that Owen Falls dam, was built in 1954 as part of a hydropower station in Jinja after Uganda and Egypt signed agreements that the East African country would not do anything to interfere with the flow of the Nile, the world’s longest river.
