Tanzania parliament ratifies Nile Basin treaty‏

By Peter Saramba Ongiri

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AA) – Tanzania's National Assembly on Thursday endorsed a treaty signed in 2010 by upstream Nile Basin countries commonly known as the Entebbe Agreement.

The Comprehensive Framework Agreement (CFA) was passed unanimously in a televised session of parliament.

Following a presentation by Water Minister Jumanne Maghembe, Lediana Mng'ong'o, who chaired today's parliamentary session, asked lawmakers who favored the treaty to say "yes" and those who opposed it to say "no."

All MPs, however, ultimately voted in favor of the agreement.

According to the assembly's rules and procedures, ratification only requires the approval of two thirds or more of the assembly's 365 members.

"Upstream countries must have the right to use Nile water," opposition MP Pauline Gekul asserted.

"It is unfair for Egypt and Sudan to claim undisputed use of Nile water," she said.

In 2010, upstream states Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania signed the CFA – which later became known as the Entebbe Agreement – with a view to increasing their access to Nile water. 

Burundi, for its part, signed on to the agreement one year later. 

Water distribution among Nile basin states has long been regulated by a colonial-era treaty giving downstream states Egypt and Sudan the lion's share of river water.

"It is unacceptable to see Tanzania, which owns 28 percent of the Nile water from Lake Victoria, getting only 0.1 percent," said Gekul.

She added that it was "a shame" for Tanzania – which has Lake Victoria, Lake Tanzanyika, Lake Nyasa and many other major bodies of water – to suffer from food shortages.

The opposition lawmaker urged the government to launch development projects – in the irrigation, power generation and water distribution fields – following the implementation of the Nile basin agreement.

Hilder Ngoye, a lawmaker for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, said the treaty's endorsement was long overdue.

"Tanzania should have ratified the protocol before any other country, because we should have a bigger share than the 0.1 percent we are getting from the current colonial-era treaty," said Ngoye.

MP Masoud Mohamed of the Civic United Front party urged other Nile Basin states to follow suit and ratify the water-sharing agreement.

"We are not trying to deny our downstream brothers and sisters from accessing Nile water," he said. "All we want is to benefit from the river, in which we have a big stake."

"It's unfair that Tanzania has to beg Egypt whenever we want to use Nile water," said the lawmaker.