President Yoweri Museveni has tasked the Nile Basin member states to collaborate and maximize the benefits reaped through the River Nile.
This was in a message delivered by Vice President Jesica Alupo at the 7th Nile Basin Development Forum, which opened in Kampala yesterday under the theme; “Deepening Nile Co-operation: Accelerating the Achievement of SDGs in a Changing Climate,”
The president also tasked the Nile Basin countries to focus on how the Nile can benefit all the member states as opposed to colonial agreements that hinder prosperity for others.
“He asked me to say that he has heard that Egypt seems to be concentrating attention too much on the agreement which was signed a long time ago in Khartoum and that the agreement does not permit some countries to irrigate crops. So he asked me to say that if that is true, Egypt should concentrate on focusing attention together with all of us to preserve and protect the environment so that the volumes of the water in the Nile are reactivated again,” Alupo said.
Delivering a keynote address at the same event, renowned Kenyan lawyer and Pan-Africanist Professor Patrick Lumumba, challenged African states that share the River Nile to use the water resource responsibly to boost agricultural productivity and industrial growth through hydro-power production.
He also challenged regional leaders to use the Nile waters in a manner that will help Africa realize its development goals.
The three-day 7th Nile Basin Development Forum has drawn delegates from the African Countries that share the river Nile, which include Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, and South Sudan.
