The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) plans to engage the Department of Marine Services over the regulation of unfit boats and their capacity, especially those sailing in remote areas.
The initiative comes in the wake of the boat accident on Lake Malawi on Sunday evening in which five people have been confirmed dead and 20 others are still missing.
Dodma Director of Response and Recovery Paul Kalilombe said this in an interview yesterday, but he did not specify when the proposed meeting would take place.
Kalilombe said there is an outcry over unfit boats that are operating on the country’s waters and wondered why there is little to no regulation on the safety of people from the Department of Marine Services.
He observed that most boats are sailing without life jackets in case of eventualities on the lake.
“It’s our responsibility to mobilise offices which we feel can reduce the risk. In this case, it is necessary that we meet those responsible for marine transportation for them to find ways of enforcing regulations which would prevent these boat operators from putting a lot of people at risk,” Kalilombe said.
He proposed that the Department of Marine Services should consider decentralising the services to districts for effective and efficient results if it is handicapped due to the centralised system.
While admitting that they are facing challenges to enforce safety regulations, Director of Marine Services Laston Makuzula they have offices in strategic districts such as Nkhotakota, Salima, Mangochi, Zomba and Nsanje to enforce safety.
“Lake Malawi is huge. We are talking about the third largest lake in Africa and to have officers all over the lake is not a joke. Some places are very remote and you can’t even access those areas by road. The shoreline is very mountainous, but we carry out a lot of enforcement,” Makuzula said.
He said the place where the Sunday accident happened is very remote, with the nearest government offices located at Nkhata Bay and Chilumba in Karonga.
“The whole area on the lakeshore side from Nkhata Bay is very remote up until you reach Chiweta mountains. This is why we sometimes fail to reach out to these areas to enforce regulations on safety to those sailing on Lake Malawi,” he said.
The police told The Daily Times on Monday that the boat, which carried 80 passengers, was for fishing and not ferrying people.
CCAP Synod of Livingstonia has since declared the accident a disaster as those involved were its members who were coming from Mlowe CCAP where they had gone for Easter prayers.
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