Fresh efforts to eliminate stubborn weed from Lake Victoria

Michael Otieno harvests water hyacinth at the shores of lake Victoria in Kisumu on June 04,2018. The entrepreneur process the hyacinth to make bags and organic manure. (Denish Ochieng, Standard)

Efforts to save Lake Victoria from the invasive water hyacinth may start in earnest in the New Year.

Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o said talks with national Government and agencies such as Lake Victoria Environment Management Programme and Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) on how to tackle the weed from early next year had advanced.

The Lake Region Economic Bloc, whose flagship projects include exploitation of Lake Victoria’s blue economy, will also be party to the multi-faceted attack on the water weed.

Prof Nyong’o first announced the plans to fight the weed on Jamhuri Day.

Yesterday Alice Ager, the communication director in the governor's office, confirmed that strategies were being developed and would be escalated next year.

When President Uhuru Kenyatta met Nyanza leaders at the Kisumu State Lodge two weeks ago, tackling the weed, which has paralysed transport, fishing and tourism in the region, was a top agenda.

“We told the President the lake and sugarcane farming were our mainstay and he was willing to channel funds into efforts to revive them,” said Muhoroni MP James K'Oyoo.

Nyong’o said he was keen on coordinating the efforts after securing the opportunity to host the African Cities Global Summit in 2021.

Fast growth

The summit seeks to help African cities deal with this fast growth, which has been stretched to limit in terms of infrastructure, resulting in proliferation of informal settlements, causing problems in the field of governance, health and safety.

It is expected to strengthen urbanisation and make service delivery more accessible and efficient, creating jobs in the informal sector.

“Getting rid of the water hyacinth goes beyond plans to host the Africities meeting. In as much as we want to showcase the lake for potential investments in blue economy during the summit, we are equally concerned about the negative economic impact the hyacinth is having in as far as the fishing industry and blue economy prospects are concerned,” said Ms Ager.