MV Kaawa

MV "Kaawa" is a Lake Victoria ferry that was operated by the Uganda Railways Corporation.
2005 collision.
In the early hours of 8 May 2005 "Kaawa" was "en route" to Mwanza in Tanzania when she 
was involved in a collision with , which was "en route" to Port Bell in Uganda. "Kaawa" damaged her bow and "Kabalega" was damaged below the waterline. "Kaawa" managed to return to port but a few hours after the collision "Kabalega" sank about southeast of the Ssese Islands.
URC's Chairman of Governors Paul Etiang admitted that marine insurance for "Kaawa", and "Kabalega" and their sister ship had expired in December 2004 and not been renewed. After the collision "Kaawa" was withdrawn from service for repairs to her bow and "Pemba" was suspended from service.
The collision was at about 0300 hrs when "Kaawa"'s third officer, Stephen Kaliisa, was on watch. Kaliisa told a Ugandan Parliamentary committee that "Kaawa" had no navigation lights and one of her radars was missing. Maritime convention is that ships passing each other in opposite directions should pass on each other's starboard side. However, Kaliisa told the committee that "Kaawa" had lacked a starboard navigation light "for a long time".
Kaliisa also told the committee that three years before the collision he had been appointed as third officer despite being only a sailor with no marine training or qualifications. "Kaawa"s First Officer, Samuel Kyabukulu, told the committee that Kaliisa was not qualified to steer the ship. Despite this, "Kaawa"s master, Captain Albert Ocaya, told the committee "When I handed over the ship "(i.e. to Kaliisa)", I did not expect anything strange" and "If Kaliisa had notified me about the trouble, the accident would have been averted". However, as master, Ocaya would have been responsible both for "Kaawa" sailing in darkness without navigation lights, without one of her radars, and with a third officer who had none of the necessary qualifications.
A commission of inquiry attributed the collision to inadequately trained crew on the bridges of both ferries and a lack of communication equipment. It also noted that both ferries had been involved in previous collisions, a previous incident report had been published a decade earlier but its recommendations had not been implemented. The report also highlighted the absence of a search and rescue unit that could have reached the sinking ferry soon enough.
Proposed return to service.
In September 2005 Uganda's minister of works, John Nasasira, claimed that structural repairs "Kaawa"'s collision damage and to her sister ship "Pemba" were almost complete but that 3.4 billion Ugandan Shillings was needed "to fully repair and maintain, class and insure the vessels". By October 2009 the two ferries were still out of service but Nasasira claimed the Government would recondition both vessels and would return "Pemba" to service in 2010 and "Kaawa" in 2011.