Islanders face transport crisis as MV Vanessa maintenance lingers

As MV Vanessa undergoes maintenance, leaving islanders with no alternative for traversing long distances of over six hours, the reliance on wooden dilapidated boats persists as their sole saviour on Lake Victoria.

The modern vessel was introduced to Kasenyi-Bubeke-Kyamuswa route after rampart drownings of islanders while using dilapidated wooden cargo boats. 

The vessel suspended operations on April 4, 2024, hoping it would take a week at Port Bell in Luzira though reports indicate that the vessel’s actual service hadn’t commenced by Friday, April 12, 2024. 

According to Agnes Nabukenya, the Lwaazi-Bubeke landing site chairperson, even before the maintenance schedule, information circulated that the vessel was to completely suspend its operations from the route. 

“It had decreased the burden of drowning, spending many hours on the lake where we used to depart by midnight and land in Kasenyi by 9:00 am however, it’s where we’re turning back again,” says Nabukenya. 

Saudah Nakimweero says that expectant mothers are the most affected since they find it difficult to spend over six hours in cargo boats. 

On-time 

These wooden boats which are commonly used by islanders depart in landing sites at midnight. They have stopovers on different islands where they load cargo including fish to be transported to Entebbe via Kasenyi landing site. 

On March 12, 2024, a boat carrying traders with agricultural products from Zzinga landing site on Bussi Island to Nakiwogo, capsized leaving five people dead and eleven rescued.

This incident was attributed to engine failure a common cause of capsized boats from Ssese islands. 

With the introduction of MV Vanessa, islanders from Bukasa island in Kyamuswa sub-county, Lwaazi–Bubeke, Buyange and Jaana in Bubeke sub-county, have been sailing for one or two hours to Kasenyi. 

John Kalinzi, one of the traders, narrates that passengers have been travelling in the morning, buying merchandise in Kasenyi, loading it on these cargo boats, then boarding MV Vanessa back to the islands to wait for their products, and this had decreased the risk of overloading people with cargo.

“We now call traders in Kasenyi to load whatever we need on boats, however, you find that some merchandise is missing out by the time of delivery thus incurring losses,” says Kalinzi.

Assurance  

Olivier van Pee the director of Nyanza Evergreen Company that operates MV Vanessa and MV Nathalie, assured islanders on this route that after service, the vessel will commence its normal daily operations from Kasenyi to Jaana, Bubeke, Buyange and Bukasa. 

“We have some competitors who wish to ply the same route who disseminate false information that we are to suspend our services completely but this is not true,” says Van Pee. 

Islanders appeal 

Islanders have appealed to the government to avail subsidies for fuel used by this modern vessel as it did for MV Kalangala so that transport fares can be lowered in case the vessel proceeds with its route. 

For a passenger to reach Kasenyi, he pays sh20,000 from Jaana, sh30,000 from Bubeke and Buyange and 35,000 from Lwanabatya on Bukasa.