By Pauline Kamiri
Nairobi, Kenya: On My 21st 1996, 24 years ago Belgian built ferry, MV Bukoba capsized near Karumo Island of Lake Victoria, 56km from the Western Town of Mwanza killing a record of 894 people on board.
The ferry operated by the state Tanzania Railways Corporation was known for carrying passengers and cargo between Tanzanian ports of Bukoba and Mwanza. It had a capacity of 850 tons of cargo and 430 passengers but on this fateful day survivors say it was overloaded with 1000 passengers on board.
Most of these victims were school-going teenagers who were returning home at the end of the school term. Mwanza was and still is an agricultural hub in Tanzania and during those times it was the most important port on Lake Victoria since it was handling cotton, tea, and coffee grown in the fertile region.
The then-president Benjamin Mkapa declared three days of National mourning terming it as the worst shipping disaster. During this year’s commemoration of the MV Bukoba disaster Regional Commissioner John Mongella united with friends and families of the dead victims at Igoma cemetery to celebrate the memorial service .Fast forward to 2011, MV Spice Islander 1 capsized off the coast of Zanzibar killing 200 of those on board. In 2012 MV Skagit also capsized in the Indian Ocean as it was heading to Zanzibar Island killed 145 people. With the most recent accident being witnessed in 2018 with MV Nyerere overturning near Ukara Island on its way from Bugorora which killed 136 and saw 40 being rescued.
Causes of the various nautical disasters that have happened in Tanzania have been linked to the mere disregard of safety regulations. Specifically, lack of life jackets, life belts and lifeboats aboard the ferries, lack of working distress signals, not regularly dry docking the ferries for routine maintenance and repairs , overloading, and overcrowding were also major causes of the many deadly accidents.
Captain Joseph Muguthi, a marine navigation consultant, formerly of the Kenya Navy during a committee of inquiry on the MV Bukoba incident blamed it on the Tanzanian government on being staffed by civil servants and politicians who have no understanding of ships and marine decisions hence most coxswains employed had no licenses to navigate but still navigated anyway.
However after the 2018 MV Nyerere accident, President Magufuli attributed the cause of the accident was due to the ferry captain mishandling his position and giving it to an untrained person. He even ordered for the arrests of all responsible as a criminal investigation began.
