Dr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive Secretary of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), one of the eight special institutions of the East African Community (EAC) coordinating interventions on the Lake and its Basin, is a Rwandan who has steered the institution for the past five years.

While in Kigali recently, The New Times’ James Karuhanga caught up with him to get a glimpse of the evolution of the Commission during his tenure which ends in May. Below are the excerpts:

TNT: For five years, you were heading the specialized institution of the Community that is responsible for coordinating the sustainable development agenda of the Lake Victoria Basin, but why should Rwandans care since Lake Victoria is far away?

Dr. Kanangire: Rwanda and other riparian countries of the LVBC should care because the lake has benefits much beyond the immediate riparian countries. In terms of climate moderation, this is a big water body not very far but 100 kilometers from here and, it influences the climate around. We look at Lake Victoria as an opportunity for transport and trade promotion. Lake Victoria is also a sanctuary for many fish species. 

TNT: How has the bigger EAC benefited from your conservation efforts?

Kanangire: The Lake brings around $300 million per year from the fisheries. All riparian towns and cities get water for domestic and industry use. We estimate water distributed to those cities at around $60 million in revenue per year and, there is the power generation potential of water from the lake. 

TNT: How is LVBC contributing to the region’s integration agenda? 

Kanangire: LVBC implemented many regional projects, many of them for infrastructure development in the area of water supply and sanitation. It involves all partner states and, when you work together, that promotes oneness. We have a project on environment which is present in all five countries. At higher policy level, we’ve been working on harmonizing policies and developing a memorandum of understanding and other framework agreements on how to manage trans-boundary resources. 

TNT: Is there equity? Is the money going in a water and sanitation project in Rwanda the same for a similar project in Tanzania or Kenya? 

Kanangire: It depends on the nature of the project. For water supply and sanitation, all countries got around $20 million to develop three towns and in environment we gave $15 million. But in some projects, differences are dictated by the nature of the project. Kenya and Tanzania which share the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem would definitely benefit from that kind of project when Rwanda and Burundi cannot. When we talk of projects on maritime transport, and maritime security, the beneficiaries will be countries very close to the lake. 

TNT: What are challenges and, how are you managing? 

Kanangire: Managing trans-boundary resources is very challenging because resources are tied to economic returns. All countries want to get maximum interest and when you are developing cooperative frameworks, a memorandum of understanding, and other ways of working together and reporting benefits together, it becomes very challenging to get an agreement between countries.

When we were discussing the new water release and abstraction policy, it took around seven years to have the framework agreed upon and approved by the Council of Ministers and, it will certainly take another number of years to have it fully implemented. 

TNT: How do you align projects to national development projects? 

Kanangire: We implement the aspirations and directives from Partner States. Partner States convene in the Council of Ministers, and in regional policy steering committees, where we share project ideas which are aligned with the mandate of the institution. During implementation, we allow each country to prioritize some activities.

Let’s say we have a project on environment; we allow individual countries the freedom to choose areas that match with country priorities. 

TNT: How do you relate with the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO)? How do you avoid duplication of effort? 

Kanangire: Our mandate is very wide. We have about 14 areas of cooperation with Partner States, ranging from environment to trade, to industries, tourism, and so on. We also have fisheries and aquaculture, which are specific to the LVFO. The only overlap is on those two but the protocol establishing the LVBC specifies that when we address issues of fisheries and aquaculture, we’ll work according to the LVFO Convection which specifies that LVFO is the east African organization working to promote fisheries and aquaculture. In practice, when we raise funds for fisheries and aquaculture, we pass them to the LVFO since they are the ones to implement specified activities. 

TNT: What feedback did you get from EALA lawmakers last year after they toured projects in Rwanda? 

Kanangire: They shared with us recommendations and one of them was that they commended the LVBC for being on the ground and working for the benefit of communities and translating the big idea of integration and socio-economic development into practice.

The second, more of a wakeup call, was that we were not fast enough. They requested infrastructure development be expedited so that the people they represent can benefit from water and sanitation projects.

They came in when we had delivered on short term interventions like public toilets, storm water infrastructure. If they came today, they would be more appreciative of the effort we put in.

Procurement can sometimes let you down as it takes a lot of time. Of course the lawmakers encouraged us to mobilize more funds and diversify our sources, which we are working on. 

TNT: In Rwanda, what projects have you finalized ever since the lawmakers visited? 

Kanangire: The lawmakers did not visit all the projects. They visited only water supply and sanitation projects in the Eastern Province.

Today, in that area, we have among other things completed building infrastructure that will control intake on river Umuvumba. We are talking of about 70 percent in completion. In other places like Muhazi, there is a smaller water supply plant now that will serve Kayonza and other places and serve around 30,000 households.

We shall serve Nyagatare town and the environs. In Nyanza, we have built a water dam and completed a water treatment plant. All these works will be completed in August. 

TNT: How much has gone in these projects? 

Kanangire: In general, all of them will cost $24 million for the three projects in Nyagatare, Kayonza and Nyanza which include around $20million from the AfDB. 

TNT: What comes to your mind as your legacy when your term of office ends in May? 

Kanangire: The main thing is the foundation. Improved management of the Commission which belongs to five Partner States and uses more than 80 percent of money from development partners. You need to be transparent, accountable and a trusted institution in using resources from partners. One of the things that myself and my team could be proud to have achieved during these five years is that we managed to improve the management of the Commission’s resources. 

In terms of resource mobilization, we managed to bring on board more development partners and funds and this went along with changing a bit the direction of our priorities. Normally, these types of institutions focus more on policy and strategy developments which are soft things and you cannot promote sustainable development and socio-economic development of communities with only policies.

Now we shifted to infrastructure development. We have water and transport projects which are bringing tangible results. New partners trusted the Commission and are thinking on mega projects of more than $600 million for infrastructure projects. 

TNT: Are these gains perhaps connected to the Rwandan values you brought to the Commission? If, so, which values? Kanagire: We are professionals but we carry values of where we come from. I think some are linked to values such as zero tolerance to mismanagement and corruption.

The first thing we did was to get finances managed correctly, resources allocated and used in a transparent and sound manner.

The second helpful Rwandan value, I would say, is you just don’t work, but you work for results! We introduced results-based management; we introduced performance contracting where every officer will account for what they are there for. Every year, every one presents their performance contract and they work to deliver.

Third was, a forward-looking mindset, as I believe we must contribute to regional development. The integration agenda is at the heart of our country and we need to think bigger than as individual Partner States. This is another value we contributed to during our tenure; thinking more regionally, and more strategically, on things which will not only have an immediate impact but have sustained impact.

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