Migingo Island in Lake Victoria has remained a controversial asset for two East African countries of Kenya and Uganda for close to two decades.
The less than 2000 square-kilometre island, located in Nyatike Sub County of Migori, is highly important for the two states. It is a breeding ground for many fish species, a rich fishing ground, and a strategic location for both countries.
However, the continuous harassment of Kenyan fishermen and the community living on the Island by Ugandan security agencies, has continued to draw criticism and raised tensions.
It’s out of these endless harassment that a group working and living on Migingo Island has decided to write a petition dated January 2, 2025 to the Office of the President to make public the report of the 2009 joint survey team tasked with affirming the Kenya-Uganda boundary in Lake Victoria.
Dr Dan Alila, a former Special Counsel at the Africa Human Rights Bureau, acting in the public interest and on behalf of Kenyans living and working on Migingo island and Kenya’s territorial waters says that the petition seeks action to end the ongoing act of slavery that the Kenyan citizens have been subjected to since 2004 by Ugandan forces.
In June 2009, Kenya and Uganda crafted a joint technical survey team to undertake a physical demarcation of the Lake Victoria border using the Kenya Colony and Protectorate (boundaries) Orders in Council of 1926 and the Constitution of Uganda, as the basis for their work.
The exercise came to an abrupt stop in early July 2009, when the joint surveyors differed on technicalities. The Kenyan team later established that the island is 510 metres inside the Kenyan territory.
Dr Alila says that the failure to make the report public has led to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Kenyans who are routinely and illegally arrested on Migingo Island depriving fishermen and the Migingo community of their livelihood, events that are contrary to Article 30 (1) of the 2010 Kenya Constitution.
According to Alila, for two decades now, Kenyans living on Migingo Island and the Lake basin counties have been experiencing extreme and endless suffering in the hands of Ugandan security forces.
A considerable number of survivors of the ongoing abuses are living in pathetic conditions, some ailing, others are out of business, and the list of victims is long and needs urgent humanitarian support, adds the medic.
The Kenya-Uganda boundary in Lake Victoria, within which the tiny Migingo island is located, was established in 1926 by the Kenya Colony and Protectorate (boundaries) Order in Council where Kenya has been occupying and exercising sovereignty over the island.
According to Alila, the geographical coordinates, as described by the First Schedule to the Kenya Colony and Protectorate (Boundaries) Order in Council, place Migingo Island on the Kenyan side of the international boundary with Uganda.
Even before Uganda raised her claim over the island in 2004, the island was not terra nullius (nobody’s land), and could, therefore, not be the subject of occupation by Uganda. Similarly, Kenya has never ceded the Migingo Island to Uganda.
Kenya’s exercise of territorial dominion over the island has remained unopposed throughout these years backed mainly by the said boundary delineation and the stand of the Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU) and later, its heir, the African Union (AU) on the African boundaries established during the colonial period.
Alila says that Kenyan fishermen continue to bear heavy prices of boats, fish and fishing gear confiscated and at times subjected to jail term in Uganda prisons yet the territorial waters around Migingo belong to Kenya.
He laments that the report was submitted to the government in 2014 but ten years down the line it is still undisclosed yet the government has the constitutional mandate and obligation to make the report public.
Although there have been diplomatic efforts geared towards finding a common ground over the conflict, these diplomatic overtures have not yielded much in resolving the same. It remains a potential danger to international peace and security, especially within the East African region.
Alila affirms that the petition represents the voice of the voiceless, defenseless, and neglected citizens of Migingo Island and the Lake Basin region.
During an interview recently, Dr Alila called upon the local leaders and officials from the Lake Region Economic Block and the national government to visit Migingo islands to establish the socio-economic issues affecting the community.
In 2018, Siaya Governor Mr James Orengo (by then Senator Orengo), said that the Migingo island case should be taken to the International Court of Justice. At the time, Orengo noted that the row was getting out of hand as Kenyan fishermen were being harassed unfairly by Ugandan soldiers.
By Makokha Khaoya and George Agimba
