Uganda agrees to compensate Kenyan traders for Sh50m confiscated fish

The Ugandan government has agreed to compensate Kenyan traders who lost fish after their export consignment destined for DR Congo was confiscated by Ugandan authorities last year.

Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Ministry is expected to deposit a compensation demand notice to Uganda’s Ministry to initiate the processes of compensation.

Fisheries, Aquaculture and Blue Economy PS Francis Owino said the agreement was struck following intensive negotiations involving delegations from the two countries between March 1 and March 4.

The PS hosted his Ugandan counterpart Major General David Kasura for four days in Turkana and Busia as the two countries moved to resolve Kenyan fish exporters’ complaints of harassment by Ugandan authorities.

“For purposes of record this mission has resolved that by close of business Friday, March 11, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have deposited a demand notice to their Ugandan counterparts for purposes of processing the request for compensation,” Owino said in Busia after the delegation from the two countries paid a courtesy call to Governor Sospeter Ojaamong.

“We have agreed as a team that we will formalise that though our ministries.”

The resolution came four months after Kenyan traders complained of losing fish worth Sh50 million after the dried export product was confiscated by Ugandan military manning the Uganda-DR Congo border.

The fish was destined for the Central African country.

But on Friday Owino and Kasura said Kenya and Uganda had agreed to fast-track the compensation process as the two neighbours strive to create a favourable environment to bolster trade ties for the benefit of their citizens.

“It will be processed and it will be taken through the relevant processes within Uganda and we shall see the merits officially,” Kasura said.

The two Principal secretaries, however, did not specify whether the compensation will also cover traders who lost fish after their product decomposed at Busia following the standoff that resulted from the confiscation of the four Kenyan trucks.

Exporters last year claimed fish worth Sh200 million rotted in Busia as Ugandan authorities failed to clear the cargo when the row erupted.

The fish originates from Lake Turkana.

The salty fish is a delicacy on high demand in DR Congo and Kenyan traders have been exploiting the market since 2013.

The confiscation took place on October 1, last year at Mpondwe border in Kasese district.

The traders, after the lose pleaded with President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and recover the impounded fish.

The exporters who met the deputy director in charge of Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture Titus Kilonzi in November last year, said there was need for Kenyan authorities to intervene and put an end to harassment by Uganda.

ISSUES RESOLVED

Owino and Kasura led Kenyan and Ugandan delegations to Turkana.

The two met fishermen and fish traders as well as fish exporters and held discussion centred on how the fish export trade, through Uganda, can be improved.

“We have agreed that these are pertinent issues that require engaging multi-agencies," Owino said.

"We have agreed that under the county commissioner of Busia, a multi-agency team will be set up to agree on the modalities of evacuation of our fish from Kenya to the DR Congo."

“Our sister country has graciously agreed that when the multi-agency team sets up that mechanism, there will be no breaking of the seals across the border and there will be no roadblocks or checking of any consignments across the border.”

“We are extremely excited because that was one of the challenges that resulted in confiscation of a consignment of fish and the aftermath is a demand for compensation.”

When the trade row began after the fish was impounded, there was a huge pile of fish destined for the DR Congo in Busia.

Exporters accused the Ugandan government of remaining silent on the matter despite their efforts to recover the product.

They claimed the harassment happens despite them having met all national and international export requirements.

But Kasura assured the traders on Friday, the impasse had been resolved calling on the exporters to resume their cross border operations.

“I want to assure the people of East Africa specifically the people of Kenya that there is no body in Uganda who wakes up in the morning and targets them for the purpose of failing their trade,” the PS said.

“Uganda is Kenya’s biggest export market and so it's in our mutual interest to ensure that anything that hinders our trade is resolved.”

“Fish trade is very important because it involves a lot of people and in many times it involves people who are not necessarily of high income and so it's important to ensure there is development for our people.”

The affected fish exporters last year wondered why Uganda continued to impose preventive policies on Kenyan fish exporters yet their Ugandan counterparts freely access Mombasa port through Busia and Malaba border posts before ferrying their fish to Europe.

They called on the President Uhuru to intervene and engage his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni to find a lasting solution to the problem.

Kasura on Friday assured the traders that Ugandan authorities were not out to hurt any exporter from Kenya.

“Trade is mutual and we must trade in a manner that is sustainable,” he said.

“You cannot trade in a way that is going to hurt either parties or bring problems and that is why we sat and talked.”

Principal Secretary in the East African Community and Regional Development Ministry Kevit Desai lauded the intervention by the two delegations to quell tension that had build-up following the trade row.

“The aspects that are important within this context are that the context of the fish value chain is absolutely critical for industrialisation,” the PS said.

“Not only does it promote the highest level outcomes for fishermen in the process as we have witnessed here in Busia."

"The value addition and promotion of fish trade throughout the continent is achieved and we see that important role where fish can be processed, packaged and subsequently transported.”

He said the value chains within the fish business promote the highest level of return to the citizens of East Africa because of the many structures that are involved.

These structures, he said, include logistics systems, processing works, the transport system and the traders themselves.

“By promoting access to that resource called fish that we have in Lake Turkana, there is ample opportunity for this very unique fish to be harvested,” he said.

(Edited by Tabnacha O)