Africanews
On May 21, 1996, the Lake Victoria ferry M.V. Bukoba capsized and sanknear the northern town of Mwanza. Months after the tragedy, its consequences are still felt by victims of the tragedy and by the wider society. |
A lot of stories, true, imagined, and others mysterious spread all over Tanzania, stemming from MV Bukoba steamer tragedy which took place last April. Starting with people who survived the tragedy like Moses Masanja, who talks of sleepless nights. "I always dream of what happened that day. I find myself drowning and trapped in the steamer in the dream that has been coming at least twice per week, since the accident occurred".
Mr. Masanja, 31, says he has not tried scientific trauma counseling but he wouldn't buy the thought of visiting a witch-doctor. "I am a Catholic and cannot revert to unchristian ways, I will be abusing God who gave me back my breath", he added quickly. He said he was aware of survivors who had gone to traditional healers for ritual cleansing for what they had experienced.
Another survivor, Mr. Embilingi Maswa, 28, narrated how he miraculously swam for an hour before he reached a huge rock which sheltered him till a small fishing boat picked him three hours later, tired and hungry. "I was among the people who vehemently refused the throwing away of our bananas and other luggage to reduce the weight of the steamer, for this I apologize", Mr. Maswa confessed over some of the reasons (overloading) which led to the tragedy.
Picking on the religious line, their was an ecumenical burial service conducted by prelates of the Catholic, the African Inland Church (AIC), the Muslim Sheiks and leaders of African Traditional Religions and attended by the head of state, president Benjamin Mkapa and opposition leaders, when hope was lost of ever retrieving the dead bodies for identification or burial. Only about 230 bodies had been recovered by then.
But even after that mass burial, many relatives of the unrecovered dead conducted private burial ceremonies to bring home the spirit of their lost ones. Mr. Charles Mwenja 56, said "We buried a banana stem in place of our lost son who used to work with UNHCR in Ngara refugee camp. And we also have been guarding the Igoma mass graves to keep off witches who uses human body parts for black magic and hyenas who have been threatening to dig out and eat the dead". The stench form the graves not withstanding.
During the burial, seven kilometers from Mwanza town, attended by thousands of Tanzanians, Kenyans and Ugandans who have directly and indirectly been relying on the services of the "Mighty" Bukoba, it was clear that Africans in this part of the continent had never experienced such a disaster. Many were grouping in small numbers in obvious sad mood narrating the last moments they shared with the deceased, how they survived the tragedy or the financial implications they are currently facing following the death of their dear friends and relatives.
"I had to cling on one of my banana bunches for two hours before I was rescued", said Mr. Justin Makoye, 33, who serves Nyegezi Social Training Institute with Bukoba plantain bananas. He has suffered bites from water creatures ranging from crabs, lobsters and fish.
The headmistress of Nganza Girls' High School, just three kilometers from Lake Victoria, Ms Naomi Kinundu said, "Our programme preparing "A" Level candidates was disrupted as we joined the rest of the country in mourning, and family, relatives and friends of students, teaching and the non-teaching staff in this trying moments".
A whole Lutheran choir of 43 members and officials based in Mwanza and had gone for a wedding ceremony, three Catholic sisters together with unknown number of their students also perished. Over 500 people stayed for two to three days trapped underwater.
A note scribbled by one of the victims, dated April, 23 and signed by Kahonge Mathews, reads in part, "....kama sio saa yangu, ningekuwa nimesha poteza fahamu ya wakati, na hata hivyo sasa sina hamu wala imani na kuishi tena, nina laki kumi na mbili na hela zengine ndogo mfukoni, mpelekeeni mke wangu Jamila Kunenge wa mtaa wa Lumumba..." (if it were not for my wrist-watch I would have lost time, and even so I have no hope of living, I have with me 100, 200 shillings and smaller money, take them to my wife Jamila Kunenge of Lumumba Estate).
One of the Customs and Excise officers at the busy Mwanza North Port, Mr. Joel Rwehabura said "Business has gone down because people have not recovered from the disaster. We are not sailing to Port Bell, Uganda nor Kisumu, Kenya and even local business is equally hit because trading between Bukoba, Mwanza, Musoma has sharply dropped."
A commission of inquiry was set to investigate on the disaster, and calls of action to be taken came from all over the country including the resignation of the prime minister and the minister in-charge of transport, as president Mkapa emphasized on the promise "...not to leave stones unturned by rolling the heads of those responsible.
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AFRICANEWS on line is by Enrico Marcandalli