Current Busia County Executive Committee Member in-charge of Water, Environment, Irrigation and Natural Resources Hon. Dr. Isaac Alukwe has landed a plum job as the Regional Co-ordinator for the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program Coordination Unit (NELSAP-CU) which is the executive and technical arm of the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) under the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), becoming the first Kenyan to hold such a position since its formation in the year 1999.
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is an intergovernmental partnership of ten (10) Nile Basin countries, namely Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, The Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda with Eritrea participating as an observer. It is an all-inclusive basin-wide institution established to provide a forum for consultation and coordination among the Basin States for the sustainable management and development of the shared Nile Basin water and related resources for win-win benefits.
NELSAP-CU within its mandate facilitates jointly agreed transformative in-country and transboundary projects with regional significance or impacts, related to the common use of the Nile Basin water resources for the benefit of all riparian countries. The investment projects prioritized have the greatest benefit to the water, food, energy, and environment sectors, improve rural livelihoods while having the least impact on the natural flow of the Nile River.
NELSAP contributes to water security through evidence-catchment-based planning, enhanced storage, and more efficient (management) use of water resources, increased investment and better protection of the natural resource base, maintenance and protection of the watershed and improvement of water productivity.
Dr. Alukwe, who prior to joining the County Government was a University Lecturer is a renowned intellectual on matters water resource management and conservation globally due to his numerous literary contributions in the field. He will be based in Kigali (Rwanda) and will be in charge of the Water Resources Management and Development sub-program with several mega development projects including Lakes Edward & Albert Fisheries & Water Resources Project LEAF II(DRC/Uganda); Angololo Water Resources Project (Kenya/Uganda); Akanyaru Multipurpose Water Project (Burundi & Rwanda); The Nile Equatorial Lakes Investment Project, NELIP (NEL); Sio-Malaba-Malakisi River Basin Project (Kenya/Uganda); Mara River Basin Management Project (Kenya/Tanzania); Kagera River Basin Management Project (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania) as well as projects funded by the African Development Bank (ADB) through NEPAD among others.
Mwalimu Tilly Sumba who taught the learned scholar at Sigalame High School in Samia Sub-county (Busia, Kenya) said his former students have made him proud due to their high-level expertise in various professional fields adding that the people of Busia and Kenya at large are confident that Dr. Alukwe will help NELSAP achieve her objectives exceedingly. He reiterated that anyone who passes through the professional hands of Busia Governor His Excellency Sospeter Ojaamong has always scaled the academic ladder beyond human expectations.
Some of his key roles will include providing overall leadership to the team, resource mobilization, capacity building, head all senior staff. The job involves a lot of traveling to the member states and beyond on official engagements with an average office operations budget of at least Kshs 9 billion dollars and more than USD 1,050 B billion for development expenditure.
The Governor has nurtured several top experts in the Country in various fields including across the country which has seen the County benefit from several donor-funded programs especially in the areas of Health, Agriculture, Trade and Industrialization and Governance etc.
We take this earliest opportunity to wish Dr. Alukwe the very best of luck on his new assignment.
