Musalia calls for a win-win formula in the sharing of Nile Basin resources Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has called on the 10-Member Nile Basin States to adopt an equitable sharing for a win-win utilization of the Nile River and Nile Basin water resources. Speaking at the 17th Nile Day Celebrations held in Nairobi, Kenya, Mudavadi said member states will avoid conflicts by navigating the socio-political and economic hurdles within the Nile Basin Region via mutual co-operation and understanding for all members to reap maximum benefits through Nile Basin Initiative.
“Kenya calls for the integration of the political good will with economic and social institutions to achieve equitable utilization. This will minimize potential risks of conflicts in the process of securing sustainability of water resources due to the increasing population and user demands within the Nile Basin.” said Mudavadi.
Mudavadi represented Kenyan President William Ruto in this event marking milestones gained through the co-operation built amongst member states since the establishment of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in February 1999,While noting that the Nile Valley has been a center of civilization for over 5,000 years during which it has been at the center of technological advancement and cultural diversity, Mudavadi cautioned that the Nile Basin still remains a water-scarce region. He attributed the scarcity to over 80 per cent of river flow that originates from a small part of the basin now prone to regular climate extremes. He said increasing demands for the water resource must be mitigated because the resource is not elastic, hence the need to share the increasing scarcity of Nile water equitably among the Nile Basin countries.“
The Nile Water resource is central to the socio-economic livelihoods of the people of the Nile Basin countries. The livelihoods include water for domestic, livestock, irrigation, Hydropower, industries, wildlife, recreation and environmental concerns. And now populations and economies are growing fast; urbanization is increasing resulting in increased water demand and declining per capita water availability,” said Mudavadi.
Mudavadi also pointed out that whilst member states should celebrate the benefits, there are risks that come with the need to protect and conserve the River Nile and the Nile Basin Water Catchment areas. He said caution should be taken on the increasing environmental degradation that compromises water quality and ecosystem loss. “It bears reminding ourselves that Nile Basin countries are experiencing the devastating effect of climate change. Climate change is being felt on use of transboundary water across the African continent. Climate change is causing more droughts than initially anticipated. Conflict by competing user rights threaten not only internal stability of nations, but have also the potential of affecting relations between nations,” added Mudavadi. In some parts of Kenya prolonged droughts have endangered human and animal life. With scarce or no source of water, human and animal food, the situation has escalated into intercommunal conflicts, with urban areas neither spared from the brutal drought that has led to water rationing. “Receding water levels due to high evaporation and excess withdrawal are exposing water storage infrastructure such as dams and aquifers to vandalism. This has reminded us to revisit copping measures such as adequate harvesting of the flood waters during increasingly sparse rainy seasons,” said Mudavadi. “To avert environmental degradations and enhance water availability, we are called upon to develop catchment management plans. In Kenya, such plans for sustainable management and development of water resources are at the implementation stage and will benefit the region,” said the Prime Cabinet Secretary.Although access to electricity in the Nile Basin region remains relatively low as compared to other developing countries, Mudavadi noted that there is still hope and all is not lost.
“With electricity supply in most Nile countries remaining inadequate, unreliable and expensive, there is still great transformative potential if a common understanding can be reached between member states to work towards turning the negatives into positives”, he reiterated.
The Nile Basin is home to world-class environmental assets; River Nile, the longest river in the world; Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world; and the Sudd Wetlands in South Sudan. It comprises of Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.“We are united by the Nile; the Nile Basin has a great transformation potential for socio-economic development and human prosperity. Let us protect it from despair”, concluded the Prime Cabinet Secretary.Ends.
