Fishermen decry harassment as row over Migingo Island persists

FISHERMEN in Migori want Kenya and Uganda to amicably resolve the dispute over Migingo Island and fishing boundaries in Lake Victoria to facilitate a smooth operation in the waters.

They expressed fears that the protracted dispute over resources in Lake Victoria had unnecessarily strained relations between the citizens of the two neighbouring countries and demanded that it was time the matter was settled for posterity.

The two nations must also, among other things, focus seriously on crafting broader efforts to realise efficient and sustainable use of Lake Victoria resources and the Nile waters by riparian states including Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Sudan and Egypt.

While Kenya and Uganda have had a sort of sour relationship regarding Lake Victoria border resources, the riparian nations are united by a 1959 agreement spelling out the use of the Nile waters.

Speaking in Muhuru Bay in Nyatike constituency, the Kenyan fishermen expressed concern that police from Uganda have continued to harass them while going about their activities in the lake.

Migingo Beach Management Unit chairman John Obunge claimed that two days ago his group lost fishing gears and catch worth over Sh5 million to Ugandan security officials who confiscated them on claims of trespass by the fishermen into the neighbouring country's water boundaries.

The claims come barely a month after President William Ruto and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni agreed to end the harassment of Kenyan fishermen by Ugandan security officers.

Fishermen in Muhuru Bay confirmed that the mistreatment has not stopped.

Tonny Ogwari, the Muhuru Bay Beach Management Unit chairman, said that the Ugandan police officers were still intimidating and harassing them in Lake Victoria, creating fear and frustration among communities that depend on fishing for their livelihood.

During their meeting at State House in Nairobi, Ruto and Museveni agreed to fast-track the signing of a landmark cross-border resource-sharing agreement.

The agreement, which is in its final stages, will allow communities from both countries to access shared natural resources such as water and pasture under structured arrangements that promote peace and sustainable coexistence.

Following this effort, the Kenyan fisherfork, through their leaders, Obunge and Ogwari, are now urging the two presidents to quickly resolve the dispute.

"My prayer is for the two heads of state to strive to effect to letter what they penned to bring peace within the region's lake waters," Obunge told KNA during an interview.

He further led the fishermen in asking Kenya and Uganda to also carry out joint security efforts on the lake to help eliminate piracy within the mass of water.

“There are criminals taking advantage of the sour relations between Kenya and Uganda over the boundaries to rob innocent fishermen of their catch and gears worth billions of shillings annually,” he added.

KNA has, however, learnt that for some time now, high-level inter-governmental talks on fishing rights have been ongoing between Kenya and Uganda, leading the two states to prevail upon their citizens to cease hostilities.

Migori county commissioner Mutua Kisilu said the two nations had put measures through a communiqué to jointly carry out security surveillance on the lake to deal with armed gangsters terrorisng fishermen while on their fishing expeditions.

Whereas the Kenya fishermen have been blaming their Ugandan counterparts led by the state’s forces of harassment and confiscation of fishing equipment, the Ugandans have dismissed the claims, instead blaming their accusers of invading their fishing waters.

The fishermen called for the harmonisation of laws and concerted efforts between the Great Lakes states to curb piracy, insecurity and depletion of the lake’s resources.

They urged that regular consultative meetings be held among government officers of neighbouring countries.

“It is regrettable that little progress has been attained in resolving key issues affecting the lake population because they are not fully involved,” Ogwari said.

He said the two nations have had much talking with little impact, adding that their officers must consider involving the citizens on every move they make so as to realise change.

About the Migingo Island ownership dispute, the fishermen are worried that the matter is taking too long to resolve.

An attempt by the two states to register the ownership in 2010 immediately hit a snag when the Ugandan officials assigned to do mapping and come up with a report pulled out of a Kenya-Uganda joint work to finalise the matter.

The team was formed and camped on the lake to carry out a joint survey for about a month, seeking to establish the country to which Migingo belongs.

The team that brought together senior survey experts from both Kenya and Uganda was formed during the reign of the late President Mwai Kibaki and was funded by the two countries to the tune of Sh140 million.

The money catered for the cost of hiring an ultra-modern boat from Tanzania which had self-contained-rooms, computers and internet connection, accommodation, medals and allowances for the team.

The group relied on colonial maps, GPRS location of Migingo, did actual measurements on the water and arrived at a decision that the Island was, indeed, in Kenya.

But as the report was getting ready to be released officially, the Ugandan experts pulled out of the team to the utter shock of their Kenyan counterparts and went back to Kampala.

As they boarded their vehicles in Migori, some confided that they did not want to be part of the announcement for fear of reprisals from Kampala.

And the report has not been released by the two governments to date. The report, as was hinted to the media, indicated that even though the Island was in Kenya, the neighbouring waters were on the Ugandan side.