President William Ruto has announced plans to expand public water transport on Lake Victoria and introduce a ferry service on Lake Turkana as the government seeks to improve connectivity between lakeside communities and islands.
Speaking during his Nyanza tour on Monday, September 14, Ruto said the government would purchase two additional public ferries, adding to a vessel already under construction for Lake Victoria.
The President said the existing ferry services on Lake Victoria are largely privately operated, limiting the availability of affordable and reliable public transport for residents who depend on the lake to move between the mainland and islands.
“There are ferries, but they are private. We need to have ferries like it is in other places. We will purchase the same for Lake Turkana,” Ruto said.
Why Lake Victoria needs more ferries
Lake Victoria connects several counties and supports communities whose livelihoods depend on fishing, trade, tourism and agriculture. For residents living on islands such as Mfangano, water transport is also an essential link to mainland markets, schools, hospitals and government services.
Ruto said the government wants to establish a proper public ferry system that can make movement across the lake more predictable and efficient.
The plan would eventually give Lake Victoria three public ferries, including the vessel currently under construction.
The President said the same approach would be extended to Lake Turkana, where improved water transport could strengthen links between communities in Turkana and neighbouring areas, including parts of Marsabit.
The proposal comes as the government continues to invest in infrastructure around the country’s major lakes, with water transport seen as an alternative to long and sometimes difficult journeys by road.
Ferry construction already underway
The announcement follows the construction of a new public ferry at the Kenya Shipyard Limited facility in Kisumu.
The vessel is intended to improve movement of passengers and cargo between Mfangano Island and mainland Suba North.
The project is particularly significant for island communities, where transport costs and limited connections can affect access to markets and essential services.
A public ferry could also provide a more structured alternative for transporting goods, potentially supporting fishing, agriculture and small businesses operating around the lake.
Kisumu also gets major water investment
Ruto’s ferry announcement came during a wider development tour of Nyanza, where he commissioned the KSh8.4 billion Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Project in Kisumu.
The project is expected to connect an additional 53,000 households to reliable water and 23,000 households to sewerage services. It is also projected to reduce water losses by 27 per cent and connect more than 7,000 affordable housing units to water and sewerage networks.
Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o described the investment as an important infrastructure project for the city’s socio-economic development.
Together, the water and transport projects point to a broader effort to improve infrastructure around Lake Victoria.
For residents, however, the success of the ferry plan will depend on how quickly the vessels are acquired, where they are deployed and whether the service remains affordable and reliable.
If implemented as announced, the expansion could give lakeside communities a stronger public transport network while opening new opportunities for trade, tourism and movement of people across Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana.
