- Five ferries and two motorboats seized in Mbita over poor safety standards
- Crackdown has paralysed transport system in the lake and affected the economy
The Kenya Maritime Authority has been accused of paralysing ferry services in Lake Victoria after the agency conducted a crackdown on vessels.
Service providers complained that KMA has refused to allow them to return to work despite complying with the rules.
Last Monday, KMA suspended the operations of Mbita Ferry Services for allegedly failing to adhere to safety standards when it conducted an impromptu crackdown.
Five ferries and two motorboats belonging to the organisation were seized and stopped from operating.
The swoop is still ongoing in the lake and a number of vessels and more than 15 people have been arrested and charged in court.
But Mbita Ferry Services through their official James Orage accused the KMA of not speeding up the process of putting them back to business.
Two ferries with a capacity of 4,000 people each and 13 cars and another three ferries which carry 60 people and five cars were stopped from operating on Tuesday last week.
The ferries operate between Mbita-Mfang’ano Island in Homa Bay county and Mbita -Lwanda Kotieno in Siaya county.
“We’ve presented required documents to KMA but they haven’t approved them for us resume duty. People are suffering,” Orage said.
He said the crackdown has paralysed transport system in the lake and affected the economy of people who depend on lake transport. Orage said fish businesses are the mos affected.
“Fishermen from more than five Islands are counting losses because their fish cannot reach the markets quickly. Let KMA respond and allow us to operate,” Orage said.
However, Alexander Munga of KMA said they will only allow qualified vessels to operate in the lake.
He said they are concerned about rising cases of accidents in the lake, which he attributed to lack of professional training of the vessels operators.
“We’ll approve vessels which are qualified personnel. There must be sanity and make the lake safe for the people,” Munga said.
He said they want rules and regulations governing operations of vessels are adhered to.