States, Markets, and Institutional Failure: Lessons from the Induced Birth, Tortured Life and Painful Death of MV Bukoba

An inaugural lecture by Professor Rwekaza Mukandala on the May 1996 sinking of the MV Bukoba on Lake Victoria, which claimed hundreds of lives. Mukandala deploys a trans-disciplinary historical approach, ranging from physics to political science, marine biology, law, and economics, to explore the contributory factors to a birth that was induced, a life of struggles devoid of joy, and a demise that was as painful as it was not unexpected. States and markets are presented as societies’ tectonic plates underlying human action. The lecture analyses how Tanzania’s dire economic conditions, the urgency for a vessel on Lake Victoria following the collapse of the East African Community, weak governance, and lack of accountability led to the signing of a flawed blood-sucking contract and securing a technically faulty vessel. A confluence of inadequate market mechanisms, inefficient public sector management, and weak institutional frameworks led to its tortured life and ultimate sinking. Mukandala calls for a reimagining of institutional frameworks, especially the constitution, to prevent such tragedies. Companion volume Row 364 is the Swahili translation.