Kenya has taken over rotational leadership of the Nile Equatorial Lakes Council of Ministers (NELCOM) after one-year tenure of D.R Congo elapsed. The handing over ceremony was held on 19th August 2022 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania during the annual Council of Ministers (CoM) meeting of the 10 countries that share the Nile River basin.
Speaking on behalf of the incoming NELCOM Chair and Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation of Kenya, Hon. Alice Muthoni Wahome, Mr. Rabson Wanjala, a representative of the Kenya High Commission in Tanzania, stated that the country welcomed the decision to hand over leadership to it. He stated that transboundary investment projects with regional significance that NELSAP-CU is undertaking are critical for the development of the Nile basin. He added that, Kenya is aware that, whereas substantial technical and financial resources have been invested in preparation of these investment projects, their prioritization and uptake in national programming has not been commensurate, effectively denying citizens of the basin tangible benefits of cooperation. He therefore appealed to member states to prioritize and mainstream them in the respective national plans.
The outgoing NELCOM Chair Her Excellency Madame. Eve Bazaiba Masudi, the vice Prime Minister of the D.R Congo and Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, thanked the Council of Ministers of the Nile Equatorial Lakes (NEL) region for their support to the outgoing leadership and for entrusting D.R Congo with the mandate to lead NELSAP-CU for the previous one year. She wished the incoming leadership great success, noting that NELSAP-CU had made significant progress during D.R Congo’s term of office.
Speaking earlier during the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting, Mrs. Gladys Wekesa, the Director of Transboundary Waters of Kenya who is taking over as the new chair of the Technical Advisory Committee (NELTAC), said she was looking forward to supporting her Minister to steer NELSAP-CU to greater heights. The NELSAP Regional Coordinator Dr. Eng. Isaac Alukwe, on his part thanked the outgoing Council of Ministers (C0M) chair H.E Madame. Eve Bazaiba Masudi and outgoing Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) chair, Director Lungu Mulutshi of D.R Congo for their support to NELSAP.
“There are some people who doubted whether NELSAP-CU/NBI can deliver major projects to the region, but with the support of the Council of Ministers and Technical Advisors, we have properly managed our investment projects including the flagship 80MW Regional Rusumo Hydropower Project, and through these developments, we are proving that benefits of cooperation in the basin is possible through NELSAP-CU / NBI,” Eng. Dr. Alukwe said.
NELSAP-CU is one of the two investment arms of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), which is the first and only all-inclusive platform for the Nile basin states to discuss with trust and confidence, how to collectively take care of and jointly invest in the shared Nile basin water resources to maximize win-win benefits for the current and future generations of the basin.