MARITIME MISHAPS AND THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK RELATING TO MARITIME SAFETY IN UGANDA Tajudeen Sanni (PhD) Abstract There have been several incidents of maritime mishaps resulting in loss of lives in East Africa inland waters, including Uganda’s. On September 20, 2018, not less than 200 persons died when MV Nyereere capsized on Lake Victoria. According to Lake Rescue, a volunteer organization promoting maritime safety, more than 5000 persons die annually in maritime accidents on Lake Victoria, African largest water body shared by Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. This figure doesn’t include incidents in other waters. This raises serious questions on maritime governance in the region in general and member countries in particular. One particular issue in this regard is whether there are gaps in the law and practice of maritime safety which need to be addressed to forestall these unfortunate incidents. In the particular case of Uganda, it is apposite examining the relevant legal and policy framework to that effect. This would require examining the position of the law relating to registration of water vessels, training of vessels crew and use of relevant maritime infrastructure such as communication gear .The importance of the regulatory regime thereof cannot be overemphasized .The analysis would, therefore , require examining the institutional framework put in place to make the law work. The primary methodology that will be employed is doctrinal analysis of the primary legal sources. On the basis of this, recommendations are made for the purpose of improving the law and practice of maritime safety on Ugandan waters. Key words: Maritime safety, maritime mishaps, legal framework,

1. PRESENTED AT KIU INSTITUTE OF
SOCIAL RESEARCH
31-10-2018
MARITIME MISHAPS AND THE LEGAL REGIME OF MARITIME SAFETY IN UGANDA BY
TAJUDEEN SANNI (PhD)
SENIOR LECTURER SCHOOL OF LAW,KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
,UGANDA
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE,DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC LAW,NELSON MANDELA UNIVERSITY
SOUTH AFRICA.

2. INTRODUCTION
A TALE OF TWO MARITIME MISHAPS

3. The Titanic

4. The ‘village’Boatman and the ‘learned’ Professor

5. • The sinking of the two vessels above is an
example of maritime mishap
• Mishaps of that nature could be caused by a
number of reasons: engine failure,
overloading ,level of competence of the crew,
stranding ,storms etc.
• That’s the opposite of maritime safety

6. MARITIME SAFETY
• Refers to conditions and measures of
conducting vessels and activities on water
bodies which ensures that the people and
cargo and the vessels are not endangered by
threats such as collision, stranding ,sinking etc

7. BACKGROUND
• Uganda is endowed with massive water
bodies at no less than 17% of the total land
mass( National Transport Masterplan,2009)
• Land-locked but regarded as a basin of
Mediterranean sea through the Nile River
• Other rivers include Semilki,Nyarungadu,Kaku
etc(2nd Schedule of the Constitution)
• Important lakes include Lake Victoria,Lake
Albert,Lake Kyoga and Lake Albert

8. Ugandan coat of arms: the blue strips in the shield
represents water bodies in the country.

9. • Much of the water bodies such as Lake Victoria
are used for transportation.
• They are critical for national development plans
• There have been incidents of maritime mishaps
such as vessel and ferry wrecks.
• On all of Lake Victoria alone shared with Kenya
and Tanzania ,5000 annual deaths.
• On Lake Albert,29 deaths annually(Marine
Police,2014).
• Many such cases on other water bodies.

10. • After the maritime mishap involving MV
Kabalega in 2005, Uganda government set up
a Commission of Inquiry.
• The Commission, among others, found that
the Ferry lacked some essential navigational
facilities, the crew wasn’t competent enough.
• . This raises questions as to whether the
relevant maritime laws provide for these
issues and to what extent.

11. Components of Maritime Safety
• -Who and what to keep safe?
• The Passengers, the ferry/ship crew, the ferry/ ship,
cargo and the maritime environment.
• -What are the maritime systems for achieving this ?
• Safety compliant ferry/ship construction,competence
of the crew, safety facilities such as lifejacket,
navigational aids, communication system( All these are
deduced from combined readings of
UNCLOS,SOLAS,Lake Victoria Convention and Model
Law on Maritime Safety)

13. So what is the question and what is
the Problem?
• From the above, the question is to what extent does the current
legal regime in Uganda embody the elements of modern maritime
safety required for protection from maritime mishaps?
• The problem is that the maritime legislation in Uganda are
essentially based on outdated laws such as the Ferries Act of 1903.
• And uncoordinated institutional regime that are not in line with
modern trends in maritime safety.
• While the challenges of maritime navigation in Uganda has been
identified to include ,outdated navigation routes, poor navigation
aids, old ferries, ill-trained crew etc(See Transport
Masterplan,2009),there is a bigger problem.
• The bigger problem is that no adequate legislation to address the
challenges above.

14. The Legal Regime
• The constitution requires the government to put
in place adequate measures for disaster
management (xxii1) and water management(xxii).
• In the maritime sector, the relevant laws are the
Ferries Act,1905,Inland Water Transport Control
Act 1939,Vessels Registration Act as well as other
laws and the associated rules.
• Other laws include Uganda National Roads
Authority 2006

15. INLAND WATER TRASPORT ACT
• It provides that (1) “No person shall, except under and in
accordance with the terms of a licence, convey by means of any
ship upon the inland waters of Uganda— any goods or any person
for hire or reward; or any goods for or in connection with any
trade or business carried on by him or her” ( Section 2(1))
• The above section summarises this Law and there are no specific
and comprehensive safety requirements in it or any part of the Act
except if the authority decides to include same in terms of licence,
which is a limited approach.
• The Act deals with only(commercial) ships and contains no safety
requirements for design or ‘seaworthiness’ of ship or use of safety
facilities.
• It says nothing about inland water transport infrastructure such as
navigation aids which are essentially not the responsibility of the
licensees.

16. VESSELS REGISTRATION ACT
• This law provides not only for(commercial) ship but
registration of all vessels as follows: “Every vessel
employed in navigation in any waters of Uganda which
belongs to, or is used by, any person residing in Uganda, or
any company or partnership carrying on business in
Uganda, shall, unless exempted, be registered, lettered and
numbered in the manner provided in this Act.”
• The penalty for not having the certificate of registration on
board is 600 shillings(sec 9),an amount not enough to buy
Coca Cola in 2018 Uganda. Same for not registering a
vessel( Sec 16).
• This Law also does not contain specific safety requirements
not even as condition for registration of vessels.

17. FERRIES ACT
• This Act deals with boats being vessels other
than ships dealt with in Inland Waters Act.(Sec 1)
• It requires such commercial boats to be
licensed(sec 2) failing which the owner is fined a
sum of UGX 100,000(s4)
• The license prescribes conditions(s3)which are
not stated but may include safety measures.
• Like the laws previous laws,this is also silent on
specific safety measures.

18. Other Relevant Statutes:Safety
Law
• One law with some relevance to safety on water is Occupational
and Health Safety Act which deals with safety of workers
particularly in the premises of a workplace (s14(1) and in the course
of work(s 28(2)
• The Act defines ‘premises’ to include vessels, offshore installations
accommodating the maritime space.
• However the limitations of this Act is that it doesn’t deal with the
specifics of maritime safety and it is restricted to workplace safety
protecting only workers.
• These limitations have been taken care of in the Acts regulating
some specific industries such as petroleum .
• A good example is the Petroleum Exploration and Development Act
2013(See for example s141)

19. Other relevant Statute: Institutional
• The Ugandan National Roads Authority(UNRA) Act 2006 establishes UNRA
(s5) to be responsible for national roads(s6).
• UNRA also manages ferries on Ugandan waters.
• This is because the Act defines roads to include ships and ferries: ““road”
means any highway and any other road to which the public have access
and includes—(a) a bridge over which a road passes;
• (b) a ferry, as defined in the Ferries Act and designated by the Minister for
the purposes of this Act, by regulations made under section 37(2)(k);(c) a
ship, as defined in the Inland Water Transport (Control) Act, and
designated by the Minister for the purposes of this Act, by regulations
made under section 37(2)(k)”.
• One regulation made pursuant to above is Ferry management Regulations
2017 which is about management of Ferry landing sites.
• In any case,the general orientation of UNRA Act is the hard surface road
used by vehicles and it has no specific provisions on safety both vessels
and vehicles.

20. • A road means ‘hard surface built for vehicles to travel on” (Oxford
Dictionary,8th Edition)
• That’s somewhat similar to how Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998 defines
a road : “road” means any highway and any other road to which the
public have access and includes bridges over which a road
passes and includes also car parks whether public or private” ( s2)
• This later Act also creates Transport Licensing Board (s61) whose
functions is to “ regulate the use of public vehicles”(s63)
• While this Board has been given the assignment of licensing and
registration of vessel, its definition of roads and the general tenor of
the Act is essentially oriented towards roads and vehicles plying
them. Its provisions are not tailored towards maritime safety at all.
• Check this for example: “No person shall possess a motor vehicle,
trailer or engineering plant, other than a motor vehicle, trailer or
engineering plant exempted from the provisions of this Act, unless
the motor vehicle, trailer or engineering plant is registered under this
Act.”(s10) See also s94 on classes of licenses

21. A Road A road or waterways?

22. International Maritime Safety Regime
• Many global, continental and regional regimes provide
for maritime safety
• At the Global level ,Uganda is the 7th non-coastal
country to join International Maritime
Organization(IMO)
• IMO safety instruments:SOLAS,IMS Code
• Other Global regime:UNCLOS
• Continental :AU Maritime Transport Charter 2010
• AU Maritime Security, Safety and Development Charter
• Model Law on Maritime Safety for African Countries
• Regional: EAC Treaty, Lake Victoria Transport Act

23. • A combined reading of the provisions of the above instruments
many of which Uganda is a party to show important provisions on:
• Safety requirement for seaworthiness of vessels.
• Safety requirement for vessels construction
• Safety Facilities for passengers such as lifeboats/jackets
• Obligation on government to provide navigation aids on maritime
routes such as lighthouses
• Certification requirements for ship crew based on type of vessel;
syllabus requirement prescribed
• Communication involving shore and offshore interface as well as
between the ship and passengers on safety requirement
• Inspection requirement-port state and flag state in particular
• Emergency response system ,search and rescue
•

24. WAY FORWARD
• Based on the above provisions, Uganda maritime
safety regime will be greatly improved if the
current legal regime is amended to include the
safety provision above in a new comprehensive
maritime law
• Such law will also provide for an independent
maritime authority to implement and enforce
same
• Need to join continental initiatives such as AMTC.
• Putting in place a maritime training outfit
• Promotion of safety culture

25. CONCLUSION
• The legal regime of maritime safety in Uganda
is inadequate
• It doesn’t help provide adequate measure to
manage maritime mishaps
• It can not help to deliver Vision 2040,National
Poverty Alleviation Startegy,Transport Master
Plan,
• There is need to streamline the maritime
safety system and amend the laws

26. The presenter on board a moving ship in which part of
the Proceedings of an International Conference in
Istanbul in 2017 .
With maritime safety lots of activities can safely take place offshore(on
water)

29. GRATITUDE
• Kampala International University management
• Institute of Social Research,KIU
• School of Law ,KIU
• Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, Nelson
Mandela University, South Africa
• Chair of Law of the Sea and Development in
Africa,NMU ,South Africa
• Prof Patrick Vrancken, the Incumbent Chair of
Law of the Sea and Development, South Africa
• Prof Summil Novembrieta,Director,ISR,KIU