Kenya Signs Nile Basin Agreement

“The rest of the riparian states are in agreement there is a need for a new agreement that will allow equitable use of the Nile waters and two countries stop others,” said Ngilu.

Ms Ngilu who was accompanied by top government officials and Nile Basin Initiative Executive Director, Henriette Ndombe, described the draft agreement as a good document and urged Egypt and Sudan to come on board.

Last week, her Uganda counterpart, Jennifer Namuyangu promised that Kenya and other upper states, whose ministers were not present in Kampala, would sign the agreement.

Namuyangu announced the agreement would pave way for the opening of the permanent Nile Commission to be based at Entebbe, which, she said, might help resolve some of the contentious issues between the other states and Egypt.

Niglu reiterated the government fully supported the agreement, adding that the utilization of the Lake Victoria and the rivers feeding into it were indispensable to the country.

“The lake plays a great role in various development activities especially in the field of agriculture, hydropower domestic water use and environmental balance,” she said.

Kenyan rivers flowing into the lake contribute 11 billion cubic meters of water annually. The Lake basin, part of the Nile basin, harbours over 50 percent of the Kenya’s surface water resources and about 50 percent of the country’s population entirely relies on its waters.

The 1929 agreement, which has been sharply disputed by the upper Nile states, gives Egypt 55.5 billion cubic meters a year, the biggest share of a flow of some 84 billion cubic meters.

The agreement also gives the North African country the power to veto water projects in upstream countries.

Faced with a high population pressure amid dwindling resources, the up stream countries are under pressure to exploit more of the Nile waters to the growing demands.

Ms Ngilu called for unity in the utilization of the Nile waters, saying without cooperation, it will be difficult to attract funding to support large scale investments like dams, irrigation schemes and large scale water supply.

There is fear donors might stay away for fear of getting tangled in a regional dispute, if an agreement, acceptable to all the nine member states is not reached.