The Nation’s exposé of the rot of Lake Victoria has triggered a chain reaction. On the political front, MPs from the Lake Victoria basin have written to Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko seeking a meeting to discuss the ecological degradation. Nearby universities are also making undertakings to tackle the environmental threats posed.
Such a flurry of activity to redress a potentially dangerous ecological disaster is quite telling. Organisations and individuals living around the lake are pretty aware of the conservational perils caused by sheer poisoning of this water mass. But they never bother to act. Either they are casualties of the mess or accomplices by dint of their silence in the face of an acute menace.
Evidence from a thoroughly conducted investigation reveals that the lake is dying from massive effluent emissions, pollution, encroachment on its waters and, generally, poor management. Economic activities around the lake, including manufacturing and agriculture, have combined to create a sludge that badly contaminates the second-largest fresh water lake, Africa’s largest. Read more…
