People travel on a wooden boat in Lake Victoria. The current strong winds have disrupted smooth sailing and cruising of transport vessels on Lake Victoria. PHOTO/DAVID SEKAYINGA
It is a busy morning. A man stands atop an elevated concrete platform from which he picks fresh fish. In almost a split second, he announces a price, turns around as he haggles with buyers, picks money from willing purchasers, sells and picks money and quickly passes back change and picks another fish.
There is as much fish on the platform as is being delivered by fishermen and trade middlemen. The clamour by women and men to get the attention of the main seller creates a loud buzz.
Metres away from the selling area, a mother with a toddler fastened to her back is irked by her continuous cries. She unstraps, places a feeding bottle on the baby’s mouth, which not only silences it, but affords it a chuckle.
The light-skinned young woman, who customers refer to by her alias, Maama Bulawuni (Brown), quickly lays out a shawl on the ground beside her stall. Her hands are (now) free to enable her to sell merchandise spread on a makeshift stand. She employs her voice to call out for more customers while she attends to a few who stand by, some holding fresh and smoked fish to weigh it as they haggle for a lower price.
“I won’t go a penny lower. Fish is not in plenty like is commonly the case,” she announces in local Luganda dialect, explaining that fishermen have recently been hesitant to go out to fish owing to strong winds on Lake Victoria, the world’s largest tropical lake.
Muhammed Onyonyi, a local at the Ggaba Landing Site, says the first week of July has been a setback to the fishing business as fishermen cautiously stay away from the lake, and out of business.
“If a fisherman goes out to cast his nets far into the lake at 4am, he is not likely to return until about 8am. This means he risks his life as the strong winds can rock his boats and capsize,” Onyonyi explains.
The tide is high
The Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) warned that owing to the changing weather patterns, there would be strong winds experienced in June and July on the lake. This has affected transport on the water body, as well as businesses. There have been eight reported deaths on the lake in the last fortnight. The winds have disrupted smooth sailing and cruising of transport vessels on Lake Victoria.
The strong winds have also pushed tough waves that have capsized boats as fishermen manoeuvred their way to earn a source of livelihood. Waves that were initially a picturesque site as they gently overlapped on the shorelines of the gigantic Victoria now hit with so much force that not only extend the lake’s shore but also contribute to floods that have sunk hospitality and residential facilities.
Operations at Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, a conservancy home to 53 rescued chimpanzees, have been affected following severe flooding caused by a dramatic increase in water levels on Lake Victoria. Dr Joshua Rukundo, the sanctuary’s executive director, says the water levels of the lake have exceeded all-time highs of 2021 and are currently about half a metre higher than then.
“All our essential facilities, including the visitor accommodations and other facilities, like our shop, restaurant, and visitor centre are currently submerged in about one foot of water. Our staff is working tirelessly to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our chimpanzees and to minimise the damage to our infrastructure,” Dr Rukundo tells Saturday Monitor, adding that the floods have also compromised the sanctuary’s electric fence, which is crucial for the safety of the rescued chimpanzees.
With the fence on the brink of collapsing, the risk of the chimpanzees escaping or getting injured is alarmingly high.
John Linonn Sengendo, the communications and public relations officer of Uganda Railways Corporation (URC), says as Lake Victoria extends its frontiers, the floods have cut off and blocked their administration block, as well as the yard.
“The floods are part of the effects of climate change. A few years back, our ports were not affected by floods. People have encroached on wetlands to construct on the banks of the lake,” Sengendo explains, adding that the destruction has necessitated a call for support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), which will be financing a rework of both piers, at Port Bell in Luzira and the other in Jinja.
Cost of the floods
The repairs will be part of AfDB’s $301m grant and loan to URC, much of which has been budgeted for the improvement of passenger services. The Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary will need to again raise its pier another metre or so.
The facility’s executive director says boats are unable to properly land at the sanctuary and they have been utilising the gabion wall as a makeshift landing area, which compromises its integrity.
“We estimate costs of $11,100 (about Shs41m) for the elevation and reinforcement of the pier. Since the beginning of the year, we have experienced El Niño rains and this has caused flooding on the island since then,” Dr Rukundo discloses.
The sanctuary has been a haven for rescued chimpanzees for more than two decades.
The Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) rapid emergency assessment at the end of May reported significant flooding at Lambu Landing Site in Masaka District due to rising water levels on Lake Victoria. The site comprises 700 houses, and a population of around 4,000 people engaged in fishing.
Dr Brian Kanaahe, the director of disaster risk management at URCS, says due to the climate change, the frequency and severity of extreme climate and weather events have increased and will continue to do so.
Caution
The meteorological authority has cautioned fishermen against overloading boats. The assessment of the annual state of climate revealed that the year 2023 was the warmest on record over Uganda since 1950, followed by 2019, 2009, 2021, and 2020 in that order.
In ‘The State of Climate of Uganda in 2023’ by UNMA, Prof Bob Alex Ogwang observes extreme weather and climate events during 2023 led to flooding that affected thousands of people across the country.
